Team Canara Bank defeated Coorg Gulf in the exciting finals of the CHAIROS Hockey Cup to become the champions and lift the trophy on the fifth instalment of the exciting and high-speed 5-A-Side hockey tournament. The two-day event was sponsored by QNET India and conducted from the 2nd to 4th of April by the Coorg Challengers Chickpet Association, Bangalore, at the FM Cariappa Hockey Arena turf ground, Shanthi Nagar, Bangalore, and saw 23 of the top state-level teams from Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu battling it out for the crown.
The Honorary Secretary of Hockey Bangalore, K Krishnamurthy, inaugurated the CHAIROS Hockey Cup tournament while Padmashree Dhanraj Pillai and former Olympian was the chief guest and handed the trophy to the winning team. Participants in the tournament included hockey stars from yesteryear like V.R. Raghunath (Double Olympian and Arjun Awardee), Nikkin Thimmaiah (Olympian and Asia cup winner), Arjun Halappa (Olympian and World cupper), Bharath Chethri (Olympian and Dhyan Chand Awardee), Vikram Kanth (Asia cup winner), and other great players like Nithin Thimmaia, MG Poonacha, Pradan Somanna, Md Rafeel, MB Aiyappa, BJ Cariappa, KD Ganapathy, KM Somanna, KK Santhosh, MB Somaiah. The attendees were also got a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to witness an exhibition match between the stars of yesteryear and ex-Olympians, such as Jude Philix, C S Poonacha, Anil Aldrin, Sabu Varghese, Ravi Naiker, Sandeep Somesh, Bharath Chethri and KK Poonacha before the finals.
CHAIROS For CHAIROS Hockey Cup Champions
In addition to the cash prize and the CHAIROS Hockey trophy, the winning team and star players were also awarded CHAIROS watches for their skills and efforts. M.G. Poonacha from Team Coorg Gulf was declared the Man of the Match and was awarded a limited edition CHAIROS Sprint watch, a stunning timepiece with silver dials and olive green straps. The sporty timepiece works on a Swiss-made Ronda movement and has a two-layer designer dial pattern. Prithviraj G.N. from Team Canara Bank was named the Man of the Tournament and received a limited edition CHAIROS Chrono+ Blue watch from QNET. The CHAIROS Chrono+ is powered by a Swiss Made Ronda Chronograph Movement and has a sporty blue multi-step press pattern dials with blue dotted leather straps to catch everyone’s attention. The winning team also received CHAIROS Sprint watches for themselves.
While many people associate Coorg with a tourist spot, it is also a cradle of hockey in India. Made up of 14 families with 40 individuals, the Coorg Challengers Chickpet Association aims to support and promote the sport in India. QNET has always known the importance of supporting and sponsoring sports tournaments for overall health and wellbeing. The organisers donated all proceeds, gained through sponsorship, to Cheshire Homes India, Bangalore.
The tournament was conducted with the utmost safety precautions against the Covid19 pandemic, with all adequate testing and sanitisation measure taken to ensure maximum safety. Social distancing was also enforced during the games.
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