Preparatory camps for WSH from Saturday

MUMBAI: The preparatory camps for all the teams in the multi-million dollar World Series Hockey will begin on Saturday.

Most of the international players and coaches will arrive in India and assemble with their respective squads before Saturday, a statement from WSH, a joint initiative of Nimbus Sport and Indian Hockey Federation, said.

The first batch with international stars like Sung Min Lee (South Korea), Stephenson Lloyd James (New Zealand) and Andreu Enrich (Spain) have already arrived, and the next set of international players including the Pakistanis will be arriving in the next couple of days, the statement added.

Former India coach Jose Brasa, who is the head coach of the Chennai team, said, “All the teams are a fine mix of international superstars and fantastic local talent. However the players would be playing as a cohesive unit for the first time.”

“The preparatory camps have been designed to build team bonding and create a winning strategy using the diverse skills each of the players bring to the table,” the Spaniard said.

South Korea’s Sung Min, who will be a star player for the Mumbai outfit, said, “I am eagerly looking forward to meeting my teammates. I have already had a few interactions with my captain Adrian (D’souza) and my coach Andrew Meredith.

“The coach has a very interesting scheduled chalked out for the preparatory camp.”

The eight-team franchise-based league will be held across different cities of the country from December 17 to January 22, next year.