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Born with a hockey stick

Anjali Prayag

There's a famous saying that every Coorgi is born with a gun in one hand and a hockey stick in the other. This was strongly endorsed at the Nellamakakada Hockey Tournament held recently in the hilly district of Karnataka.

The tournament had 226 Coorgi family teams playing one another for 24 days of great competitive hockey. There were 12 matches a day, 4,068 players and 15,000 spectators thronging to encourage their family teams.

This tournament was started four years ago with 68 teams representing various families competing for the top honours. This year, sports and fitness company, Nike, sponsored the event.

Recording the event were representatives from the Guinness Book of World Records to approve and acknowledge this event in the record books as the largest hockey tournament with 226 playing teams.

In 1997, when the event was kicked off, the `Pandanda' family organised the tournament. This year, it has been the Nellamakakada family. So far, up to the year 2010, different families have agreed to host the event.

The tournament is jointly conducted by the organising family and the Kodava Hockey Academy. There is a permanent deciding body that allots every year's tournament to a particular family. This body also governs and administers the smooth running of the to urnament in terms of players' behaviour, selection of the district hockey team with the support of the Coorg Hockey Association and Karnataka State Hockey Association.