All India Sahibzada Ajit Singh Memorial Champion Trophy from Oct 21-27

Ludhiana, October 14, 2012: Perfect Real Estate ALL INDIA SAHIBZADA AJIT SINGH HOCKEY CHAMPION TROPHY will be organized by Sports Council of Ludhiana at Pirthipal Singh Hockey Stadium at Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, from October 21-27.

This seven -day hockey extravaganza will have the biggest prize money of Rs 8.5 lakh and this will be for the first time that the matches will be played under flood lights.

In men category, the participating teams are Indian Oil Mumbai, BPCL Mumbai, ONGC Mumbai, Air India Mumbai, Indian Army, Punjab National Bank, Punjab and Sindh Bank and Namdhari XI.

Similarly in women category, the participating teams are Central Railway, Gwalior Academy, Chandigarh XI and Rail Coach Factory.

In the second edition of All India Sahibzada Ajit Singh Memorial Champion Trophy, a total of 8 teams in men category and four from women category will be pitted against each other for total prize money of Rs 8.5 lakh, which is the highest prize money amongst all non government sponsored tournaments of the country at present. The matches will be played in league cum knockout basis.

The winner of men category will get a whopping prize of Rs 3.5 lakh while the runners up will get Rs 2 lakh as prize money. Similarly in women section, the winner will get a prize money of Rs 1.25 lakh, followed by Rs 75,000 for the runners up team. The winner of women category will also get Prof Nirpjit Kaur Gill Memorial Trophy.

While addressing a press conference here today, Olympian Ramandeep Singh Grewal, vice chairman of Sports Council of Ludhiana, said that the live telecast of the final matches to be played on October 27 will be telecast live on national channel “DD SPORTS”.

Hockey Olympian and Chairman of tournament organising committee, Hardeep Singh Grewal said, “The opening ceremony of this tournament will see a well-planned cultural programme from 5:30 pm to 6:30 pm on October 21. Charanjit Singh Atwal, speaker of Punjab Vidhan Sabha will be the chief guest, while Dr Baldev Singh Dhillon, Vice Chancellor, Punjab Agricultural University will be the guest of honour. Pargat Singh, hockey Olympian and MLA will preside over the function. During the closing ceremony on October 27, Punjabi singer Satinder Sartaaj will perform live.”

Brand ambassadors for All India Sahibzada Ajit Singh Memorial Champion Trophy are Punjabi singer and actor Harbhajan Mann, singer Satinder Sartaj and singer Kamal Heer.

Pirthipal Singh Batala, president, Sports Council of Ludhiana said, “Last year, this tournament was held from March 9-14, 2011. At that time, eight teams from men category and four from women category had competed against each other for total prize money of Rs 4.25 lakh, which has been increased to Rs 8.5 lakh this time.”