SAI not to release players for WSH
M.S. Unnikrishnan
The ambitious World Series Hockey (WSH), to be hosted by the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF), suffered a major setback when the Sports Authority of India (SAI) informed the Sports Ministry that the players who would be attending the National camps for the Olympic qualifying tournament will not be released for WSH.
Many of the senior Indian players have been signed up by WSH to play in the league, which has promised them hefty pay packets.
The multi-city franchise-based league is scheduled to be held from December 17 till January 22 and will involve 61 matches. Around 200 players are being allocated to the teams based on the internationally-accepted and practiced ‘draft’ system”.
The inaugural edition will comprise eight teams from Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Pune, Bhopal, Punjab, Ranchi and Rourkela.
In a letter to Sports Ministry Under-Secretary, Shankar Lal, the SAI Project Officer (TEAMS), Rajpal, had stated, “after going through the opinions of Michel Nobbs, foreign coach, and David Jones, exercise physiologist, in detail, it is found that all the national hockey players attending the national coaching camp under OPEX 2012 (Operation Olympics), for the preparation of the national team for the Olympic qualifiers, have to practice and play together over the next two months with top-level players of the world for the purpose to qualify for the forthcoming Olympics 2012 (London), rather than playing in the WSH Tournament, where only the veteran class players will be participating.
“Accordingly, it is proposed that, in order to concentrate on the preparation for the Olympic qualifiers as well as the Olympics 2012, we may not send the players who are undergoing coaching camp under OPEX 2012 for playing in the WSH Tournament,” the letter added.
For good measure, it noted that it as “issued with the approval of the competent authority”, which infers the consent of both SAI Director-General Desh Deepak Verma and Sports Minister Ajay Maken.
India are slated to hold the 2012 men’s and women’s Olympic qualifiers in Delhi in February-March, the 2013 men’s and women’s Junior World Cup, the 2013 final of the Men’s World League and the 2014 World Champions Trophy tournaments. But the International Hockey Federation (FIH) will allow India to hold these tournament subject to the condition that the Sports Ministry recognises Hockey India as the sole controlling authority of hockey for both men and women under its guidelines “as the National Sports Federation with complete and exclusive authority to govern men’s and women’s hockey in India, in respect of both national competitions and Indian participation in international competitions”.
It also wants the Government to ensure that HI and FIH will not proceed with the implementation of the arrangement arrived at on July 25 to work together.
Another clause, which makes it very difficult for the Government to support the IHF in any manner, is that “the Government will not fund or otherwise support any hockey event which is not sanctioned by the FIH and/or Hockey India”. This also means that the WSH will not get access to the SAI/Government-controlled hockey stadiums in the country for hosting the league.
Meanwhile, disregarding the latest development, the WSH is going ahead with its signing spree of both Indian and foreign players. It has taken on board players such as Brent Livermore, Joseph Reardon, Peter Kelly, Robert Green and Mathew Philipps from Australia, Casey Henwood and Lloyd Stephenson (New Zealand), Jiwa Mohan (Malaysia) and Sung Min (South Korea). It said the recruits from Australia included Olympic and World Cup winners and a host of current players who have played close to 1000 international matches among them.
Some of the Indian stars who have been roped in include current national players like Rajpal Singh, Sandeep Singh, Adrian D’Souza, Sardara Singh, Prabhjot Singh, Arjun Halappa, Diwakar Ram, Bharat Chetri, Dhananjay Mahadik, Shivendra Singh, Mandeep Antil, S.V. Sunil, Roshan Minz, William Xalxo, Prabodh Tirkey and Yuvraj Walmiki.