One of a kind

ON THE face of it, it looks like just a small town hockey tournament. Played in various hamlets in Kodagu District, the hilly coffee growing terrain in Karnataka, this tournament has a number of aspects that set it aside from the other hockey tournaments, so much so that even the Guinness Book of Records deemed it fit to send its representatives to check out the claims and then accord it the status of being one of a kind in the world.

In 1997 the Pandanda Family in Kodagu set the ball rolling for this first ever inter-family hockey tournament in the country and possibly in the world. The idea was that any family in Kodagu district could field a team, but it had to be purely a blood related family team. Thus the team could have brothers, cousins, grandfathers, uncles and so on. Women were also allowed to play but had the choice to represent either paternal side or maternal side. The first tournament was called the Pandanda Cup and had 68 teams participating in the event. Another unique concept of this tournament is that the choice of hosting the tournament was to be on a rotation basis. Thus when the second edition was played in 1998 it was called the Kodira Cup and 120 teams were in the fray. In 1999 it was the Ballachanda Family's turn to host the tournament and entries had increased to 135. At the turn of the Millennium, Cheppudira's hosted the tournament with 170 teams in the fray. Thus probably this is the only tournament which has a different nomenclature every year and also a different venue. The tournament committee has identified hosts among Kodava families for the tournament till the year 2010.

This year's edition was called the Nellamakkada Cup tournament and the head of the Nellamakkada family, Mohan Aiyappa spared no efforts to make the tournament a resounding success. When there was a boom in coffee prices there was no dearth of funds in staging it but with the drastic slump in coffee prices even conducting the tournament was in jeopardy. But the Kodavas are a proud race and concerted efforts by one and all ensured that the tradition in conducting the prestigious meet was not only continued but also surpassed. Mohan Aiyappa and his sons - Lavin Uthappa and Sachin Bopanna ( the latter a talented hockey player turning out for a senior division team in the State) managed to convince Sportsgoods manufacturer Nike to support the tournament. Nike was only too glad to pump in funds as title sponsor and even kitted out the Nellamakkada team which was hosting the championship.

It was by all means an amazing feat. First a high class hockey ground (though only a clay court) was carved out of a small hillock. It was not just a hockey ground but a stadium with seating galleries, car park and VIP enclosures.

A second ground nearby was also made to arrange fixtures for the record number of 226 teams this year. From about 1000 families in Kodagu district, 226 families could compile a playing eleven. There was a six year-old boy playing alongside his 60-year-old grandfather in the team. P. Ashwini Medappa was one of the women players in the tournament and she even went on to score three goals in highly competitve matches. Ashwini is a former Karnataka and Air India player and was a member of the junior India camp twice and the senior India camp once.

The Nellamakkada Cup was held from April 20 to May 13. The host team Nike- Nellamakkada bowed out in the semi-final but played an exhibition match on the final day.

If any one team has made this family hockey tournament its preserve thus far it is the Koothanda Family. Joint winner in 1999 after being a finalist in 1998, Koothanda went on to win the cup outright in 2000. This year it was on the threshold of a hat- trick and it achieved the distinction in fine style. Koothanda's nippy forward K. M. Ganesh recorded the 1000th goal of this edition when he put his team ahead in the sixth minute. Ten minutes later his kinsman K. K. Appaiah essayed a reverse flick to slam in the second goal. The Cheppudira Family managed to reduce the margin in the 34th minute when a penalty stroke awarded by international umpire Palangappa saw C. M. Appanna score. But K. M. Ganesh rounded off the match with a second goal in the 38th minute.

D. RAVI SHANKAR

Bangalore

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Sport
Previous : Manipur, Bengal storm into final
Next     : Tempt Me Not delivers a sucker punch