Beighton Cup to start from October 1

Kolkata, September 30: The 120th edition of one of the world’s oldest hockey tourment — the Beighton Cup — is scheduled to be played at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) ground here from Thursday.

A total of 24 teams are taking part in the event which will give away Rs. 2 lakhs to the champions and Rs 1 lakh to the runners-up. The best player of the tourment — which concludes on October 11 — will pocket a purse of Rs.10,000. The qualifying round has already started. The 24 teams include 11 outstation outfits which includes big guns like Indian Oil, Central Railways and Central Secretariat. The matches will be played in a knock-out-cum-round robin league. In the prelimiry stage the games will be played on a knock-out basis., However, from the quarter-fils, the five teams that qualify from the knockouts will be clubbed with three teams already seeded in the last eight stage (Indian Oil, tiol Bank, Army XI). The quarter-fils will see the eight teams divided into two groups among which the first and second placed teams will play in the semis. (IANS)