The euphoria of Indian hockey's Olympics qualification is not yet over, but the sticks are already being re-oiled. Players are getting their gears in order once again – this time to play the World Series Hockey (WSH). It's a bit like Indian cricket team winning the World Cup and days later gets pushed into the Indian Premier League. But while the IPL has firmly established itself into the Indian sports calendar, WSH is set to undergo a screen test in its inaugural season.
But confusion surrounds the start of WSH on Wednesday, with the participation of Indian national players still hanging in balance owing to the impasse between the game's two warring factions – Hockey India (HI) and Indian Hockey Federation (IHF). However, the tournament is on schedule and will take off with a glittering ceremony in Chandigarh on Wednesday.
WSH – a joint venture of IHF and Nimbus Sport – is a multi-city league with a franchise-based model similar to the IPL, with approximate total prize money of $2 million in its first season. The league will feature international stars like Sandeep Singh, Sardar Singh, Rehan Butt and Brent Livermore besides marking the comeback of Dhanraj Pillay, Viren Rasquinha, Prabhjot Singh and Gaganajit Singh into professional hockey.
The league is divided into eight franchises: Bhopal, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi, Karnataka, Mumbai, Pune and Punjab. More than 200 players from India and abroad are expected to be part of the event that will see the implementation of some innovative rules.
Of the 25 players registered by each team, 18 will be allowed to play the matches that will be divided into four quarters of 17-and-a-half minutes each to constitute 70 playing minutes. The move will not only help players catch a breath and coaches to re-strategise, it will provide more promotion opportunities to the tournament sponsors and advertisers. The rest of the rules stay the same as international hockey, including the use of video umpiring for dubious calls.
But there is a catch. Whether the blue-eyed boys of Indian hockey will be part of the action is still a conjecture. The FIH president Leandro Negre – who was in the capital recently during the Olympic qualifiers – has urged HI and the IHF to join forces; however, an immediate solution is the last possibility, leaving the participation of national players in jeopardy.
Rather HI has added fuel to fire by announcing a list of 48 Olympic probables and a training camp from March 5 – bang in the middle of WSH. The FIH president too has added to the confusion. On one side he said every player and coach has freedom to participate and on the other he attached an 'unsanctioned' tag to the tournament until India forms a unified hockey body.
Former India coach Jose Brasa and Dutch legend Roelant Oltmans are coaches of Chennai and Delhi team respectively. If the FIH were to pull up players for participating in an 'unsanctioned' event, the axe may also fall on Brasa and Oltmans.
So while the IHF and Nimbus are gung-ho about their earnest venture to lift Indian hockey, in reality it begins with a cloud hovering over it. Many questions remain unanswered less than 24 hours away from the inaugural match and only once Chandigarh Comets and Bhopal Badshahs set the ball rolling, the answers will roll out.
SQUADS:
Bhopal Badshahs: Sardar Singh (Captain), AB Cheeyanna, Armaan Qureshi, Baljinder Singh, Baljit Singh, AD Cariappa, Casey Henwood, Ganendrajit Ningombam, Geowynne Kyle Gamiet, Girish Ravaji Pimpale, Harbir Singh, Harmanpreet Singh, Harmanpreet Singh , Kangujam Suresh Singh, Karan Bhaskaran, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Armaan Qureshi, Mohd. Sahir, N Senthil Kumar, VR Raghunath, Rajesh Kumar, Sameer Dad, Shailendra Singh Bundela, Shivendra Singh, Tushar Khandker, Waseem Ahmad
Coach: V Bhaskaran
Chandigarh Comets: Rehan Butt (Captain), Ajitesh Roy, Barkat Singh, Belsajar Horo, Bharat Chhikara, Birendra Lakra Jr, Gurjinder Singh, Gurmeet Singh, Harjot Singh, Jasjit Singh Kular, Jiwa Mohan, Llyod Stephensonn, Manpreet Singh, Matthew Phillips, Mohd. Amir Khan, PR Sreejesh, P Thirumala Rao, Pramod Kumar, Preetinder Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Ranjodh Singh, Robert Greenh, Sandeep Singh, Sanwar Ali, Sarvanjit Singh, Sher Singh, Sukwinder Singh (Gabbar).
Coach: Harendra Singh
Chennai Cheetahs: Brent Livermore (Captain), Adam Sinclair, Amardeep Ekka, Amit Kumar Prabhakar, BK.Muthanna , Benedikt Sperling, Bharat Chetri, Chinthakunta Santosh Kumar, Danish Mujtaba, Davinderpal Singh, Dhananjay Mahadik, Dharamvir Singh, Gaurav Tokhi, Gauravjit Singh, Hamza Mujtaba, Jasbir Singh, Joseph Reardon, Mark Harris, SM Rafeeq, S Arumugam, Samir Baxla, Sandeep Antil, Shivamani, Syed Imran Warsi, Veerasamy Raja, Vikas Sharma, Vikram Pillay.
Coach: Jose Brasa.
Delhi Wizards: Rajpal Singh (Captain), Anand Tirkey, Bruno Lugun, CS Khalko, Gurbaj Singh, Gurvinder Singh, Jaswinder Singh, K Victo Singh, Kamaldeep Singh, Keisham Roshan, Lovedeep Singh, Manjeet Kullu, Manoj Antil, Mark Pearson, Mathias Minz, Mrinal Choubey, Philip Sunkel, , Rupinderpal, Singh, Shakeel Abbasi, Vickram Kanth, Vikramjeet Singh, Vivek Gupta.
Coach: Roelant Oltmans
Karnataka Lions: Arjun Halappa (Captain), Abhishek Singh, Adnan Maqsood, Amar Aiyamma, Arjun Antil, Devesh Chauhan, Dhanraj Pillay, Gursev Singh, Ignace Tirkey, Inocent Kullu, Jagdeep Dayal, Jarnail Singh, Manpreet Pawar, Nagalingaswamy B, Nitin Kumar, Nitin Thimmaiah, Ravipal Singh, SK Uthappa, Sandeep Singh, Sandeep Singh , Jarnail Singh, Vinayak Bijwad, Zeeshan Ashraf
Coach: Jude Felix
Mumbai Marines: Adrian D'Souza (Captain), Aijub Ekka, Ajmer Singh, Anup Anthony, Bimal Lakra, Clyde Abrahams, Conroy Remedios, Devender Walmiki, Errol D'Silva, G M Hariprasad, Jay Karan, Joga Singh, Prabodh Tirkey, Pradhan Somanna, Rajesh Kumar, Richard Hildreth, SV Sunil, Shanyl Balwanth, Shashi Topno, Sudhir Raju Dixit, Troy Sutherland, Viren Rasquinha, Yuvraj Walmiki
Coach: Andrew Meredith
Pune Strykers: Kenny Pereira (Captain), Alden D'Souza, Alvin Alexander, Amardeep Ekka, Amit Gowda, Amol Baban Bhosale, Bikash Topo, Birendra Lakra Sr., Damandeep Singh, Diwakar Ram, Gurpreet Singh, Gurpreet Singh Guri, Gurwinder Singh Chandi, Kangujam Chinglensana Singh, Lungile Tsolekile, Mario Nicolas Almada, Nikkin Thimmaiah C A, Vikas Vishnu Pillay, MG Poonacha, Roshan Minz, Sunil Yadav, Sunny Samuel, Tyron Pereira, Vikram Ramkaval Yadav, Vinod Gopi Nair
Coach: Gundeep Singh
Sher-E-Punjab: Prabhjot Singh (Captain), Akashdeep Singh, Antoni Kindler, Deepak Thakur, Didar Singh, Dinesh Ekka, Gagan Ajit Singh, Gagandeep Singh, Gurjant Singh, Gurmail Singh, Harpal Singh, Harpreet Singh, Imran Khan, Inderjit Singh, Jasbir Singh, Karmjit Singh, Maik Gunther, Mandeep Antil, Matthew Hotchkis, Mohd Rodzhanizam Bin Mat Radzi, Prabhdeep Singh, Prabhdeep Singh, Simranjit Singh, Sukhjeet Singh, Tariq Aziz, V S Vinaya, William Xalxo
Coach: Rajinder Singh
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