The HFB (Hockey Family Badhkhalsa) team from Haryana that is participating in the MHAL-conducted Guru Tegh Bahadur All India Gold Cup hockey tournament here, is the brainchild of the husband-wife combo of Parveen, 32, and Deepa Dahiya, 28, both passionate hockey players.

Deepa, who is accompanying the team in the absence of her husband as he is currently pursuing a coaching course at the National Institute of Sports in Patiala, said that the couple decided to start the team three years ago to provide playing opportunities to underprivileged youngsters in Haryana. "There are many children from poor families who cannot play the game because they don't have money to buy even a hockey stick. We provide the playing kit to our trainees—over 100 girls and 70 boys— at the Haryana government's astroturf surface in Sonepat for free. The average age of our team here is just 20," Deepa, a FIH panel hockey umpire, who officiated in the World Hockey Series Finals in Valencia, Spain earlier this year, told mid-day at the MHAL stadium.