New Delhi, November 16: Fourth Premier Hockey League (PHL) will start from December 20, 2007 at the Sector 42 Hockey Stadium, Chandigarh. Seven teams, who participated in the PHL last year, will fight it out for the coveted trophy and the winner’s prize of Rs. 40 lakhs. IHF also announced the names of the captains, coaches as well as the team lists containing the Indian players who will be participating in the league this year. The foreign players’ contingent as well as their allocation will be announced later. The league will be covered LIVE & exclusive on ESPN. Asia’s leading sports broadcaster, ESPN STAR Sports, will play the key role of marketing, producing and broadcasting the tournament to countless hockey lovers in India and abroad.

This year, PHL will follow a league-cum-knockout format wherein every team first plays each other once in a round robin format. The top four teams will then fight it out in the semi-finals stage followed by a best of three finals. In all, PHL will have 26 matches this year. For the first time, each team in the league will feature talented youngsters from the Under-19 and Under-21 hockey teams of India as designated by the Indian Hockey Federation.

Speaking on the occasion, Indian Hockey Federation President Mr. K P S Gill said, “PHL has been a roaring success over the years and has also been a nursery for creating hockey superstars for tomorrow. Players like Raghunath, Sandeep Singh, Tushar Khandekar and Sardara Singh have all showcased their athleticism and skill in this flagship event and I expect PHL IV also to throw up new Indian talent in the same manner. With Olympic Qualifiers around the corner early next year, the intensity and high quality hockey of the league will ensure that our players are fit and raring to go for the tournament in Santiago, Chile. As a special focus this year, we have also inducted a host of junior players from the age-group level in each team to build up their strengths through exposure to such high quality hockey. We are confident that the league will provide a deep and enriching experience to these budding youngsters.

After a lot of deliberations and feedback from the technical consultant, Maurits Hendriks, we have decided to carry on with the shoot out instead of the penalty stroke during a tie-break. All other rules remain the same from the previous edition.”

Names of the captains of the seven participating teams are as follows: (Team given in the brackets):

Dilip Tirkey(Orissa Steelers:, Kanwalpreet Singh (Sher-e-Jalandhar, )
Rajpal Singh (Chandigarh) Dynamos
Adam Sinclair (Chennai Veerans)
Viren Rasquinha (Maratha Warriors)
Tushar Khandekar (Bangalore Hi-Fliers) and
Sardara Singh (Hyderabad Sultans)

According to Vijay Rajput, Chief Operating Officer, ESPN Software India Pvt Ltd, “I am glad to announce that PHL in only its 4th edition has made a significant contribution to the development of hockey in India and we will endeavour to take this forward in the future as well. We started the usage of the Third Umpire for television replays which the FIH today is contemplating to introduce at an international level. The recent victory at the Asia Cup in Chennai and the euphoria across the nation also points out the deep connection that this sport continues to enjoy with the average Indian sports fan. We will continue to work closely with the Indian Hockey Federation and Leisure Sports Management to revive the popularity of India’s national game.

The PHL broadcast has changed the way people look at Indian hockey. We will continue in our endeavour to provide quality broadcast for our viewers including comprehensive match analysis, pre-match and post-match shows and special features which will embellish the quality of the product. As a special focus, we have also revamped the dedicated PHL website (www.premierhockeyleague.com), including not just compelling news, match reviews and hockey related information, but also trivia, games, and other exciting titbits on PHL”

Managing Director of Leisure Sports Management (LSM), S S Dasgupta commented: “After three successful editions of PHL, we are very confident that the fourth round will also be a grand success. All preliminary groundwork for the successful hosting of the league has already been initiated. We are also talking to various international hockey stars to get them to play in PHL IV and enthral the hockey loving audience. We are committed to offering an international quality experience to hockey fans ¾ and this year we will do so once again”

About Premier Hockey League

Premier Hockey League is the result of hard labour put in by the IHF, ESPN STAR Sports and Leisure Sports Management (LSM). Three editions of PHL have already been organised. Till date, players from Pakistan, Malaysia, Netherlands, Argentina, Spain and others have participated in this league. PHL is the first sporting platform ever where Pakistani and Indian players have played together in the same team.

The league carries total prize money of Rs. 76 lakhs. The winning team gets Rs. 40 lakhs, the runners-up Rs 20 lakhs while the losing semi-finalists share prize money of Rs.5 lakhs each.

Many innovations have been introduced to increase the viewer interest in the game – each game has four quarters of 17 minutes and 30 second each, instead of the two halves. Time outs have been introduced in order to liven up the game. The team that wins within the stipulated time gets three points for each victory while the team winning in the extra time shares the points 2:1. If teams are locked goalless even after extra time, an innovative penalty shootout was introduced in PHL III instead of the standard penalty stroke competition. In the second edition, the Third Umpire was introduced for the first time in Indian Hockey for television replays on key decisions.