Ratan Tata, chairman emeritus, Tata Sons on Tuesday inaugurated the new building of Naval Tata Hockey Academy. Tata, who is in the city

as part of the Founder’s Day celebration, also took a tour of the new facility. 

N Chandrasekaran, chairman, Tata Sons and T V Narendran, CEO & managing director, Tata Steel, Chanakya Chaudhary, vice president, corporate services, Tata Steel were also present on the occasion.

The hostel building having capacity for 52 boy cadets, rooms for 9 coaches, gymnasium, teaching room, Hall of Fame, office, dining & kitchen, infirmary, massage room, etc. have been set-up in the academy.

The second floor has a board room with excellent views of the turf. It also has a viewing balcony for about 20 people. First 2 phases of the project have been completed and very soon accommodation for 52 girl cadets and a practise field will be added in the 3rd phase of the project.

NTHA Jamshedpur has been set-up through a joint collaboration between Tata Steel, Tata Trusts and Indian Steel & Wire Products (ISWP), a subsidiary of Tata Steel with a vision to professionalize grassroot hockey in the talent rich tribal belts of Jharkhand and Odisha.

“We want to become one of the recognised centers of excellence for field hockey player development in the country and strengthen the standard of Indian Hockey by providing world class practices and technical facilities,” said an official.

It brings world-class facilities that include an Fédération Internationale de Hockey (FIH) global quality artificial turf with floodlights, international coaches, nutritionists, as well as mental and physical trainers to provide high performance hockey training.

The academy is being built in 3 phases and will be equipped to cater to 52 boy and girl cadets each. It is spread over 10 acres of land and has a spectator gallery of 200 seats.

Over the past three years, NTHA has successfully resulted in 17 players representing their respective states at various National level tournaments. NTHA aims to become a Centre of Excellence for hockey by creating a professional environment that enables young players to achieve their full potential. Players emerging from the Academy are free to pursue the game at the highest levels - playing for the country as well as clubs around the world.