Cycle polo nationals from Dec 22

Addressing media persons CEO of the federation Gajajan Burde said the 19 th Sub Girls, Junior, 24th Junior Girls and 23rd Senior women championship will be organised from December 22 to 25 followed by 37th Sub Junior Boys, 41st Junior Boys and 43rd Senior Men championship from December 27 to 30.

Indian Army, Indian Air Force, Territorial Army, Jammu and Kashmir, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Prades, Kerala Karnataka, Telangana, Rajatshan, Madhya Pradesh Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Bihar, Gujarat, Chandigarh and host Maharashtra will participate in the tournament. In all 800 players, coaches, managers and officials will participate in the tournament and the players will be provided accommodation at Lohana Seva Mandal's Suchak Bhava, Hiwari Layout. The matches would be played on a league cum knockout basis from 8 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. The winners, runners-up and the third place holders will be given attractive trohies and medals. Deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, union minister Nitin Gadkari, MPs, MLAs, president of Cycle Polo Federation of India Pradipkumar Bapat, president of Asian Cycle Polo Federation Raghuvendrasingh Dundol will grace the opening and prize distribution function.

The officials of Nagpur District Amateur Cycle Polo Association CA BS Thakre, Dr Vinod Jaiswal, Dinesh Sarve, Pralay Pillewar and others were present at the press conference.

'Lack of infra affecting Maha performance

Earleir Maharashtra used to dominate the nationals but in last few years, Maharashtra teams have failed to deliver their best performance. Asked the reason behind it, Shiv Chhatrapati awardee Burde said, " Lack of basic infrastructure like playground for the cycle polo in the city is the major reason behind the degradation of Maharashtra standard in cycle polo. We are running from pillar to post to have our own ground but on no use. Earlier we used to conduct our regular activities at Urdu School ground, Ajni but now the ground is not available".