ROURKELA: Kahupani village team of Kutra block emerged champion in the first edition of Biju Patnaik Rural Hockey Championship (BPRHC) held at Biju Patnaik Hockey Stadium here on Sunday.
The team walked away with the trophy and prize money of Rs 5 lakh. In contrast to the grand opening on December 10, 2016, the final held 21 months later was a low-key affair. It was organised by Dilip Tirkey Sports Research & Development Foundation (DTSRDF) under the leadership of hockey icon and BJD leader Dilip Tirkey, who was the organising committee chairman.
In the one-sided title clash, Kahupani drubbed runners-up NAC Lakrajor village team of Lefripara block 4-1. Mathidius Kullu netted the four goals for Kahupani while Mathias Toppo scored the solitary goal for Lakrajor. The runners-up team was given a cash price of Rs 3 lakh. Khukuramunda (Patratoli) village team of Rajgangpur block defeated Joketa village team of Nuagaon block to secure the third place and cash prize of Rs 2 lakh, while Joketa team was placed fourth with cash award of Rs 1 lakh.
Sports and Youth Services Minister Chandra Sarathi Behera gave away the prizes. Prominent among others, MLAs Mangala Kisan and Subrat Tarai, Rourkela Development Authority chairman Sarada Prasad Nayak, Rourkela Smart City CEO Rashmita Panda, Sundargarh Zilla Parishad president Emma Ekka and former Indian hockey captain Prabodh Tirkey were present.
Padmashree and Arjuna awardee Dilip Tirkey said the event would help popularise rural hockey, identify latent talents for grooming to ensure regular flow of quality players to national level. The organising committee chairman and SAIL Hockey Academy coach Peter Tirkey said as many as 1,480 rural hockey teams had participated in 32 zones, including 231 teams from Jharkhand, 32 from Chhattisgarh and 94 from Sambalpur and Deogarh districts, while rest 1,123 teams were from Sundargarh district, the cradle of hockey. He said 64 finalists and runners-ups picked up earlier from 32 zones played final round of knock-out matches from September 16.
Earlier, the championship was kicked off as part of Biju Patnaik birth centenary celebration and was inaugurated in a grand scale amid a huge gathering of 23,300 rural hockey players by the then Vice-President M Hamid Ansari, who was accompanied by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram and a host of prominent Indian hockey players.