Bhubaneswar, Sept 21: The world’s largest rural hockey tournament named Biju Patnaik Rural Hockey Championship, organized by Dillip Tirkey Sports Research and Development Foundation, would be held in November 2016 by Odisha. The Foundation launched the logo of the tournament, designed by renowned sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik on Wednesday in Bhubaneswar.
Sudarsan Patnaik and Padmashri Ignace Tirkey, former India hockey caption have agreed to be the brand ambassador of the Championship.
Around 1500 teams from rural areas of Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh will be participating in the tournament.
As per sources, the matches in the Championship would be played at 32 venues from November this year and will continue till March 2017. The total prize amount has been kept at Rs 20 lakh for the tournament.
