BHOPAL, 11 May 2007 — Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said Bhopal will host the Women’s Hockey Asia Cup in November.
Chouhan made this announcement when he inaugurated the 20th Sub-Junior National Girls Hockey Tournament at Tatya Tope Nagar Stadium on Saturday. The chief minister took the salute of a joint parade of the teams from all over India on the occasion and declared the tournament open. Delhi girls defeated Chattisgarh by three goals to two in the inaugural match.
Madhya Pradesh Director, Sports and Youth Welfare Sanjay Choudhary welcomed the chief minister and presented a memento to him Chouhan said that all necessary facilities would be provided to players and equal importance would be attached to all the games. He stressed the need for providing necessary resources, facilities and favorable atmosphere to bring out the best in sportspersons.
Regretting the neglect of sports and sportspersons over the years, Chouhan assured that funds would be no impediment in development of sports. He said that by winning 63 medals at the National Games at Guwahati recently the Madhya Pradesh sportspersons have proved that they are second to none, if provided proper facilities. The chief minister was introduced to the captains and players of the teams drawn from all the states on the occasion. He said that Bhopal had been the bedrock of hockey and the state capital had been represented in Indian hockey team. There is need to restore the glory of Bhopal hockey. He assured that cricket or any other game would not be promoted at the cost of other games. He said that necessary steps have been taken for promotion of all the games including hockey in the state. The Women Hockey Academy has been set up at Gwalior to groom excellent women hockey players at national and international level. Mayor of Bhopal Sunil Sood extended his good wishes to the teams participating in the tournament. General Secretary of Indian Women Hockey Federation Ms Amirtia Bose informed that the tournament is being organized after a gap of 30 years at Bhopal. This tournament would play an important role in preparing players for Women Hockey World Cup and Olympics.
