Calcutta: Twenty-four teams will vie for top honours in the 116th Beighton Cup, which will be held at SAI’s artificial turf from October 25 to November 11.

The tournament will be held on a three-tier basis, beginning with a knockout qualifying stage from where four teams will qualify for the quarter final league round. The eight quarter finalists will be divided into two groups with two top teams from each group making it to the semi-finals.

The organisers tried to bring Waseem, a Pakistan club, to add glamour to the tournament. But their efforts went in vain because of negligibility on the part of Hockey India.

“It takes a lot of time to acquire the visas of the players... We faltered in the first step as the application remained with the HI for over two months,” said BHA secretary Gurbux Singh.