Contributed by the Singapore Hockey Federation

The Hockey season in Singapore will start on Saturday, January 9, with the Singapore Hockey Federation (SHF) Under-21 Boys and Girls tournament.

Held at the Sengkang Sports and Recreation Centre, the U21 tournament will have a total of 24 teams (14 boys and 10 girls) participating. 500 young players will pit their skills against each other until the champions emerge on March 13.

Men's defending champions, the Singapore Recreation Club (SRC), will find the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) squad a huge threat to their crown this year. The Police Sports Association, Jansenites and Khalsa will also certainly be in the reckoning for honours.

Newcomers, C&C United will be the dark horse along with the Singapore Cricket Club (SCC) this year. Balestier Plains clubs, Indian Association and Ceylon Sports Club have been also drawn in the same group which should add spice to the tournament.

This season, the Men's tournament will include a second phase where the top two teams from the first round groups being pooled into two groups of three teams. The top two will play in a cross over semi-finals and the winners will clash in the March 13 final.

The girls competition, which starts a week later on January 16 will be less complex with the 10 teams divided into two pools of five teams. The top two will play in a cross over semi-finals and the winners will square off in the final held on the same day as the boys.