PANAJI
A 18-member team of Goans Hockey team left for Chennai yesterday to take part in the Hockey India senior men championship which started yesterday and will end on 15 November in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
The Goans Hockey team are placed in Group G and are clubbed along with Hockey Jharkhand, Hockey Maharashtra and Hockey Gujarat.
They will start their campaign against Hockey Jharkhand on November 6 at 2 pm, followed by matches on November 8 against Hockey Gujarat also a 2 pm kickoff. The team will complete their league engagements in the four-team group with a match against Hockey Maharashtra on November 10 at 2 pm.
Aviraj Madgaonkar and Riyaz Shabbir Kamabli are accompanying the team as coaches with Eliter Fernandes sports authority of Goa coach, who coached the team ahead of the tournament in Goa not able to make the trip to Chennai.
Incidentally, both Madgaonkar and Kamabli are in their late 30s and till last year where part of the senior team and will now be coaching some of the senior members of the men's team.
Both of them made their coaching debuts this year with sub junior and junior state teams.
Thirty teams from all over India are taking part in the championship.
Goa team is having a dismal record at the national level championship and have collected the wooden spoon having finished last in most of the championship spread across all age groups and in both the men’s and women section as well as the boys’ and girls’ categories.
The men’s senior team have conceded 72 goals in the last three championships and scored 6 in the process in 9 matches.
Besides that, in the National Games 2023 held in Goa, which has a large number of outstation players Goa let in 25 goals and scored 8 in four matches.
In the women’s senior team national championship, the record is no better having let in 43 goals and scored 5 goals in 9 matches.
At the National Games 2023 they scored two goals and had to fetch the goals from the nets on 17 occasions in the four matches.
14th Hockey India Senior Men National Championship 2024 fixtures
Group G teams: Hockey Jharkhand, Hockey Maharashtra, Hockey Gujarat and Goans Hockey
November 6, Goans Hockey vs Hockey Jharkhand, at 2 pm
November 8, Goans Hockey vs Hockey Gujarat, 2 pm
November 10, Goans Hockey vs Hockey Maharashtra, 2 pm
