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Taj, Tata Tea sponsorship for Indian hockey

The Taj group of hotels and Tata Tea today signed a million-rupee sponsorship deal with the Indian Hockey Federation.

IHF secretary K Jyothikumaran, who announced the deal minus the exact sponsorship figure in Bombay today, said the support will go a long way in preparing the Indian junior and senior teams for the World Cup and Sydney Olympics respectively as also grooming future India players and providing foreign exposure.

The Indian team's build-up for the Sydney Olympics (September, 2001) will continue with curtain raiser tournaments in Canberra and Sydney from September 16 to 26. Hosts Australia, South Korea and Canda are the other teams taking part in the tournament.

Jyothikumaran said the IHF will hold two camps simultaneously at Pune and Banglore for three weeks for about 48 under-18 and under-21 juniors to select a team for the 2001 World Cup in Australia. The Pune and Banglore camps will be conducted by Clarence Lobo and Ajay Bansal respectively.

He also announced that Vasudevan Bhaskaran will be the coach of the senior Indian team till the Sydney Olympics, while Ajay Bansal, who is attached to the Sports Authority of India, will look after junior coaching.

UNI

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