Rangaswami Cup meant to pick up players for Olympics

Bhopal: Introduced in 1928, the Rangaswami Cup, was originally known as Inter-Provincial

Tournament meant to pick up players for the national team for the Olympics. United Province, led by P C Banerji and consisting of legendary Dhyan Chand, won the first edition of the championship defeating Rajputana 3-1 in the final held at Calcutta. Since 1935 onwards, the winners were given a shield that New Zealand`s Maori tribe presented to visiting Indian team. However, after partition the trophy went to Pakistan. Subsequently, the Hindu Group in 1951 presented the Rangaswami Cup that was named after one of its editors and since then the tournament is known as the Rangaswami Cup. The tournament since its inception is also known as Senior National Men`s Hockey Tournament. Bhopal won the tournament twice in 1945 and 1948 and finished runners-up thrice. Bhopal hosted the reputed tournament thrice in 1950, 1962 and 1975. Last time, when the championship was held in Bhopal, Indian Railways won it, defeating Tamil Nadu 5-0 in the final. Punjab and Sindh Bank won the last two editions of the tournament held in 2005 and 2006. Indian Railways has won the title for a maximum 21 times in the past 63 editions. PTI