Six Olympians Captain Six Brand-New Teams: Chhattisgarh Hockey League Opens Tonight in Raipur
State leagues don’t usually open like this. Six new teams, six Olympian captains, squads picked from open trials, and a state government running the whole show. The Chhattisgarh Hockey League starts tonight in Raipur, and the opening game has a proper headline act: Lalit Upadhyay’s Rajdhani Royals against Surender Kumar’s Nyayadhani Knights at 7:30 pm IST.
Upadhyay against Kumar is not a bad way to sell a league. Both have Olympic medals, both have played in World Cups, and tonight they lead out two squads of 22 built from 132 players who came through open trials. Every assistant coach in the league is from Chhattisgarh itself. That’s the point of this thing: local players, local coaches, international names on top to pull a crowd in.
A neat piece of timing
Deputy Chief Minister Arun Sao spotted the date quirk at the launch. Exactly 25 years ago today, India’s junior team won the Junior World Cup. Devesh Chauhan, the goalkeeper in that side, is coaching in this league. Hockey loves a full circle, and that one landed on opening night by accident.
The other four captains tell you the level the league has aimed at: Shamsher Singh leads the Sanskardhani Strikers, SV Sunil the Chakradhar Champions, Pradeep Mor the Mainpat Titans and Chinglensana Singh Kangujam the Bailadila Bulls. Sunil and Chinglensana in a state league’s first season is a statement by itself.
How the first week runs
A women’s exhibition match opens the evening at 5:30 pm IST, before the Royals and Knights take the turf at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Hockey Stadium. Tomorrow brings Mainpat Titans v Bailadila Bulls and Chakradhar Champions v Sanskardhani Strikers, and the league runs daily from there: 18 matches, a rest day on 30 October, semi-finals on 31 October and the final on 1 November.
It’s the first hockey league in India run by a state government, sanctioned by Hockey India, and the whole tournament streams on JioHotstar with Hindi and Chhattisgarhi commentary. For our money, that’s the detail that matters most. A league nobody can watch is a poster. This one can be watched, in the language the home crowd actually speaks.
Tonight will tell us whether the hockey matches the packaging. Royals v Knights, 7:00 pm Pakistan time. We’ll have the result on SportsCursor.
Tonight (IST): Women’s exhibition 5:30 pm · Rajdhani Royals v Nyayadhani Knights 7:30 pm, Raipur.
More on tonight: our opening-night piece from this morning, the Murugappa Gold Cup preview from Chennai, and the Live Centre.
