Indian Hockey Teams to take part in the International Hockey festival in Melbourne

The Indian national men’s and women’s hockey team will take part in the International Hockey festival. Melbourne will be home to a new festival of hockey and showpiece international hockey tournament for the next three years, it has been announced by the Victorian Government.

The new men’s tournament, which will be broadcasted internationally, will take place in late November and will feature Australia, India and Malaysia in 2016, with a fourth team to be confirmed in the coming months.

India’s participation in the event comes as a result of Hockey India’s path-breaking Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Hockey Australia, signed last year, which will see the Indian men’s national team tour to Australia over the next three years.

Roelant Oltmans, Chief Coach of the men’s national team said “The International hockey festival is a very noble initiative by Hockey Australia. It will come in as a treat for all hockey fans globally, I am sure it is going to be a top notch tournament with some spectacular hockey on display by all the participating nations.”

Sardara Singh, Captain of the men’s national team said, “Australia is a great place to play Hockey. The hosts and Malaysia are always a formidable opponent, so it should be a very challenging tournament, and a good experience for the team and I am looking forward to the international Hockey festival this year.”

Alongside the men’s competition, Australia and India’s women will play a three-match Test series, with a high-profile Friday night encounter set to put world class women’s sport in the spotlight once again.

The involvement of both genders will make hockey the only sport Down Under that delivers annual event content featuring both Australia and India, men and women. These series’ are being touted as the Victorian Festival of Hockey.

The festival of hockey will feature a series of spin-off events including community engagement opportunities and a business forum too. With a strong focus on the Asia region, it is anticipated the event will expand in 2017 and 2018. Other innovative concepts will be developed and announced as part of this festival of hockey.