Beighton Cup to throw open 22,000-seat hockey stadium in Salt Lake

The 126th edition of the Beighton Cup will be played at the newly-inaugurated Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Hockey Stadium, which with a seating capacity of 22,000 is the largest hockey venue in the country.

The state-of-the-art facility, located inside the Salt Lake Stadium complex, was inaugurated by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday to mark the 100 years of Indian hockey.

Several current and former Olympians and international players will be seen in action in the tournament, regarded as the ''Blue Riband of Indian Hockey'. It's the world's oldest hockey championship that began in 1895.

The main competition will begin on Saturday, with the final scheduled for November 16, according to the West Bengal sports department.

Built under the initiative of chief minister Mamata Banerjee, the stadium features a world-class synthetic turf, a modern gallery, two fully-equipped dressing rooms, a press corner, a room for video analysts, and a venue operations centre.

The Indian hockey completed 100 years on Friday. The sport’s organised journey in the country began in 1925 with the formation of the first national sports body.

To mark the centenary, Hockey Bengal also organised men's and women's matches across districts.