LAHORE Dec 29: The 53rd national hockey championship will be held in Rawalpindi from Feb 3 to 12 next year. According to a spokesman of the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) earlier, the preliminary round, both for district associations and departmental teams, would be played from Jan 20 to 29 in different cities.

The PHF has divided the district associations into two groups- north and south.

The Rawalpindi District Hockey Association will organize the north round at Islamabad under the supervision of Punjab Hockey Association.

Hyderabad District Hockey Association has been allotted the south round to be supervised by the Sindh Hockey Association.

Pakistan Customs will organize the departmental round.

The departmental matches will be played at Hockey Club of Pakistan (HCP) Karachi.

North: Peshawar, Mardan, Bannu, D.I. Khan, Kohat, Hazara, Malakand, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Sargodha, Gujranwala, Lahore, Multan, Bahawalpur, Dera Ghazi Khan, Islamabad, A.J.and K.

South: Karachi, Larkana, Sukkur, Hyderabad, Mirpur Khas, Quetta, Sibi, Makran, Nasirabad, Kalat and Zhob.

Departments: PIA, Customs, NBP, ABL, HBL, KESC, Sui Southern, Pak Steel, Army, Navy, PAF, Wapda, Police, Railways, H.E.C., PTV and POF.