• Tata Steel partners with ‘Hockey Australia’, the governing body of Hockey in Australia, to, professionalize grass-root level hockey training in Odisha
• This partnership is one of its kind in India to connect around 500 youngsters in the region.

Tata Steel in association with Hockey Australia, the governing body of Hockey in Australia, has launched a grass-root hockey development programme ‘Hooking2Hockey’ at Gomardih in Kutrablock of Sundargarh, the district known as cradle of hockey in Odisha which has produced some of the finestinternational hockey players.

Series of workshops were conducted by a three member team led by Mr James Liggins, ParticipationCoordinator of Hockey Australia and two other members Mr Tom Winter and Mr Oran Aziz from July 5 to 8,2016 in 10 schools of Kutra and Rajgangpur blocks. At the concluding session today, the Australian trainersand participating students were felicitated by Mr B K Naik, SDPO, Kutra in presence of Captain Amitabh, Head,Skill Development, Tata Steel, Mr S S Mishra, Senior Manager, Mine, Tata Steel, Mr J Sandil, Unit Head, TSRDS,local Panchayati Raj Institution members, local school students, teachers, Tata Steel employees. Mr Naikappreciated the efforts of Tata Steel for organising the programme and urged the students to make best useof the training.

The initiative, coordinated by Tata Steel Rural Development Society (TSRDS), Gomardih unit, is aimed toattract youngsters towards hockey and teach them basics of the game in a fun filled but professionalatmosphere to help them grow up as good players.
300 students in the age group of 7-10 years – 15 boys and 15 girls from each of the 10 schools- participated inthe workshops. All the children were given individual sports kit comprising of hockey stick, ball, shin-guard, T-shirt, Gumshield, etc. More workshops will be conducted in coming months in the area to cover approximately200 more students. Tata Steel will nurture the future players from these youngsters by linking them to someleading training centres.

Besides, the team has also trained ten hockey coaches of these schools nearGomardih, where the steel major has its Dolomite Mine.

On the initiative, Mr D B Sundara Ramam, Executive-In- Charge, Ferro Alloys and Minerals Division, Tata Steelsaid that as a part of our commitment towards promoting sports in our operational areas, this initiative will goa long way in encouraging hockey talent in the region.

Speaking about the partnership with Hockey Australia, Mr Biren Bhuta, Chief, CSR, Tata Steel said thepartnership is going to create a meaningful impact at the grass root level - both in the field of hockey as wellas the lives of the youngsters who are interested in this game.

Expressing his joy for being part of the programme, Mr James Liggins of Hockey Australia thanked Tata Steelfor organising this wonderful workshop and giving the team an opportunity to train the youngsters in India.

About Tata Steel
Established in 1907 as Asia's first integrated private sector steel company, Tata Steel Group is among the topglobal steel companies with an annual crude steel capacity of nearly 30 million tonnes per annum (MnTPA). Itis now the world's second-most geographically-diversified steel producer, with operations in 26 countries anda commercial presence in over 50 countries. The Tata Steel Group, with a turnover of US$ 24.81 billion in FY14, has over 80,000 employees across five continents and is a Fortune 500 company. The Group's vision is tobe the world's steel industry benchmark in "Value Creation" and "Corporate Citizenship" through theexcellence of its people, its innovative approach and overall conduct. Underpinning this vision is aperformance culture committed to aspiration targets, safety and social responsibility, continuousimprovement, openness and transparency. In 2008, Tata Steel India became the first integrated steel plant inthe world, outside Japan, to be awarded the Deming Application Prize 2008 for excellence in Total QualityManagement. In 2012, Tata Steel became the first integrated steel company in the world, outside Japan, towin the Deming Grand Prize 2012 instituted by the Japanese Union of Scientists and Engineers.

Chief, Corporate Communications, India & SEA
Tata Steel