MUMBAI: Hero Motocorp today announced its association with the Hockey Junior World Cup. Hero will be the title sponsors of the tournament that will see the participation of 16 of the finest junior (under 21yrs) international teams of the world as they fight it out for the title at the famous Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium in New Delhi. The tournament will go on from 6 to 15 December, 2013.
Hero Motocorp is an FIH (International Hockey Federation) partner and the title sponsor for all FIH events taking place in India till the end of 2015.
Hero MotoCorp MD & CEO Pawan Munjal said, “It is a privilege to be associated with the Hockey Junior World Cup. This is also in keeping with our long-term commitment to promote Hockey in the country. Youth plays a pivotal role towards building world-class teams and we hope our support can help drive the growth of hockey in India and around the world. I wish all the participating teams the very best and look forward to seeing some great performance from these future stars of world hockey.”
“The Junior World Cup is an extremely important event for FIH”, said International Hockey Federation CEO Kelly Fairweather. “It puts the spotlight on the future stars of the game, providing some of the finest young talents in the world with the perfect opportunity to make a name for them in a world class sporting environment. We are delighted to have Hero Motorcorp as a Global Partner and the Title Sponsor for the Junior World Cup and other upcoming FIH Major Events in India, including the World League Finals in January,” he added.
The tournament features four pools, each of which contains four teams ahead of the quarter-finals, semi-finals, classification and medal matches. Pool A will feature Germany, Pakistan, Belgium and Egypt, while Australia, Spain, Argentina and France are competing in Pool B. Netherlands, Korea, India and Canada will challenge each other in Pool C with England, New Zealand, South Africa and Malaysia going head to head in Pool D.
The Indian team led by Manpreet Singh will open its campaign against the Netherlands, a team that will almost certainly be targeting the title. Playing under home conditions, Indian hockey’s young guns will compete against other top contenders like Germany, Australia and Spain.
