The Second edition of Royal Enfield Ice Hockey League (REIHL) returns to Ladakh for its new season. Commenced from 4th January, it is further scheduled to conclude on January 13, 2025, at the Nawang Dorjay Stobdan (NDS) Stadium, Leh.
This year’s league aims to build on the momentum of its inaugural edition, which saw a total of 6000 spectators, once again bringing together local talent from across the region. This edition will feature a total of 30 matches – 23 in the men’s category and seven in the women’s, over a span of 10 days.
The men’s tournament is structured into two groups of five teams each, with the top two teams advancing to the semi-finals.
The women’s tournament will also follow a two-group round-robin format, with three and two teams in each group, followed by semi-finals and then finals on January 12. The men’s championship final is set for January 13.
Teams: Men’s Teams: Changla Blasters; Kangs Sing; Zangskar Chadar Tamers; Maryul Spawo; Shakar Chiktan Royals; Sham Wolves; Purig Warriors; Changthang Shans; United Nubra; and, Humas Warriors. Women’s Teams: Maryul Spamo; Sham Eagles; Changla Lamo; Skara Chiktan Queens; Humas Queens
What is Ice Hockey?
Ice hockey is a game between two teams who wear skates and compete on an ice rink. Each team usually has six players. The object is to propel the puck past a goal line and into a net guarded by a goaltender. Ice hockey is popular for its speed and frequent physical contact.
In fact, Ice hockey is a ball game played on ice with sticks. The objective here is to score a goal by hitting a vulcanized rubber ball with a special stick called a hockey stick into the opposing team’s goal post.
Ice hockey is immensely popular in Canada, where it is the national winter sport and country’s most popular game. Hockey is also popular in the United States and in European countries such as Russia, Sweden, and Finland. More than a million registered athletes play regularly in leagues worldwide.
Ice hockey is an Olympic sport. The sport made its Olympic debut in 1920 in Antwerp, Belgium. Participating teams consisted mostly, if not completely, of amateur players. However, in 1995 an agreement between governing bodies and player associations allowed professional athletes to compete at the Olympics, and National Hockey League players participated in the Olympics from 1998 through 2014. In 2024 NHL and other officials announced that NHL players are eligible to play in the 2026 and 2030 Olympics.
It is suggested that Ice hockey is derived from a game played in Nova Scotia by the Mi’kmaq people. It included the use of a “hurley” (stick) and a square wooden block. It was probably fundamentally this game that spread throughout Canada via Scottish and Irish immigrants and the British army and evolved into an informal ice game later known as shinny or shinty.
For much of the 20th century, amateur athletes dominated international Ice Hockey competition. League competition among amateurs in England began in 1903. The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) was formed in Europe in 1908. Its five original members were Great Britain, Bohemia, Switzerland, France, and Belgium. The first European championship was held at Avants, Switzerland, in 1910, with Great Britain the winner. From that time the federation broadened its membership, taking applicants from the world over. Canada captured the first Olympic Games title in 1920 and, concurrently, the first IIHF world championship. Canada, which also won at the first Olympic Winter Games in 1924, dominated international competition until the emergence of the Soviet team in the early 1960s. The Soviets continued to be the most powerful team in international hockey until the 1990s and the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
In 1995 an agreement between the NHL, the NHL Players’ Association, and the IIHF ended amateur domination of international play as professional athletes were allowed to compete at the Olympics and World Cup championships. Although the decision had little effect on the world tournament, the Winter Games competition underwent numerous changes.
Given the high visibility of professional players and their skills, selection to the Canadian, U.S., Russian, Finnish, Swedish, and Czech Olympic teams was no longer based on tryouts but rather on the decisions of hockey personnel from each country’s national hockey governing body. The six “dream teams” were automatically placed in the final round of eight; the two remaining slots were filled by the winners of a qualifying round.
In India, the League is set to take place following the Losar festivities, aims to provide a sense of community engagement while encouraging players to remain active during the winter months.
Losar also known as Tibetan New Year, is a festival in Tibetan Buddhism. The holiday is celebrated on various dates depending on location (Tibet, Bhutan, Nepal, India) tradition. The holiday is a new year’s festival, celebrated on the first day of the lunisolar Tibetan calendar, which corresponds to a date in February or March in the Gregorian calendar. Variation of the festival in Nepal is called Lhosar and is observed about eight weeks earlier than the Tibetan Losar.
Losar predates the arrival of Buddhism in Tibet and has its roots in a winter incense-burning custom of the Bon religion. Tibetan new year is counted by the current year added to 127 BCE the year of the founding of the Yarlung dynasty. During the reign of the ninth Tibetan king, Pude Gungyal (317-398), it is said that this custom merged with a harvest festival to form the annual Losar festival.
For hundreds of years now, it has been traditional for the Dalai Lama, and the Government, to consult Nechung during the New Year festivals. During Losar, the Tibetan celebration of the new year, no champagne to celebrate. Instead, it is to go to the local spring to perform a ritual of gratitude. Making offerings to the nagas, the water spirits who activated the water element in the area. Smoke offerings are made to the local spirits associated with the natural world around.
The way of relating to the elements originated in the direct experiences by sages and common people of the sacred nature of the external and internal elements. These elements are earth, water, fire, air, and space. Losar is celebrated in the city of Dharamsala in India and in other Tibetan Buddhist communities. Losar is celebrated for 15 days, with the main celebrations on the first three days.
Losar occurs near or on the same day as the Chinese New Year and the Mongolian New Year, but the traditions of Losar are unique to Tibet, and predate both Indian and Chinese influences. Losar forms part of the culture of Ladakh for Buddhists residing in the region.
As well as that, the Sherpas are associated with Losar and enjoy Losar in the high altitudes of the Nepal Himalayan Range. Prior to the Chinese invasion of Tibet in 1950, Losar began with a morning ritual ceremony at Namgyal Monastery, led by the Dalai Lama and other high-ranking lamas, with government officials participating, to honor the Dharmapala (dharma-protector) Palden Lhamo. After the Dalai Lama was exiled, many monasteries were destroyed and monks imprisoned. Since that time, Tibetan Buddhist practice in Tibet has been difficult to observe publicly.
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Commencing teaching in his early twenties, Prof Aggarwal has diverse experience of great tenure in the top institutions not only as an educationist, administrator, editor, author but also promoting youth and its achievements through the nicest possible content framing. A revolutionary to the core, he is also keen to address the society around him for its betterment and growth on positive notes while imbibing the true team spirit the work force along with.
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