High Court directs Centre, Hockey India to allow participation of Odisha's men's, women's teams in national championships

Cuttack: The Orissa High Court on Tuesday directed the Centre and Hockey India to allow Hockey Odisha to participate in the upcoming senior national championships for men and women. While the men’s championship will be held in Jhansi from 25 January, the women’s event will be held in Kollam from 30 January, Hockey Odisha general secretary Pratap Satapathy said. [caption id=“attachment_4077625” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Getty[/caption] Hockey India, the apex body of the game, last week had debarred as many as 10 states, including Odisha, from participating in the national championships on the ground that they had not updated the details of the team members online a month before the beginning of the events. Hockey Odisha had sought some more time from Hockey India to furnish the details, Satapathy said. But when the apex body did not pay heed to the request, Hockey Odisha approached the high court, stating that it was practically not possible to select the team before one month of the championships. Justice KR Mohapatra in an interim direction asked the Centre and Hockey India to allow the teams from Odisha to participate in the championships, said Hockey Odisha counsel Dayananda Mohapatra.