Bangalore, Dec 15: In a significant development, ESPN STAR Sports announced that ING Vysya Life, one of India’s leading private life insurance companies, will sponsor the Bangalore team in Premier Hockey League (PHL) from 2006 onwards. The Bangalore Hi-Fliers has now been rechristened as Bangalore Lions. In addition, ING Vysya Life has also signed on as the official life insurer of the Premier Hockey League. All the participating Indian players (in
Tier I & II) will be provided with a life insurance cover of Rs 5 lakh each.

Speaking on the occasion, R C Venkateish, Managing Director, ESPN Software India Pvt Ltd, said, “We welcome ING Vysya Life for their sponsorship of the Bangalore Lions and for providing Life insurance cover for the Indian players. It is encouraging to see that more and more corporates are coming forward to work with us on PHL and are entering into multi year deals. We are sure that PHL and the game of hockey will attract more corporate support in the years to come.

Speaking on ING Vysya Life’s interest in Indian hockey, Mr. Frank Koster, MD and CEO, ING Vysya Life, said, “The objective of this association is to develop &
promote hockey in India. We have started off with Bangalore Lions and we are
keen to see that Hockey develops strongly in India. Premier Hockey League with
its many innovations has caught the fancy of the entire hockey fraternity in the
world. We are very glad to be a part of this innovative league.”

Speaking on ING Group’s involvement in Hockey in the Netherlands, Mr. Koster said, “Hockey is a very popular sport in the Netherlands, ING’s home market, and Dutch hockey has strong connections with Indian hockey. In fact, two Indian players have participated in the Dutch hockey league for the first time earlier this year. They played for a team Klein Zuitserland that is sponsored by ING Group”

Talking about the success of PHL, R C Venkateish, added, “PHL was sampled by an impressive 19.6 million individuals in its first year. Innovations introduced in the game were appreciated by the hockey fraternity in India and world-wide.
Thanks to PHL’s success in the first year, we have experienced greater readiness amongst foreign players to participate in PHL 2006. 11 foreign players have already confirmed and more will be announced in the very near future. We will continue to innovate to ensure that PHL becomes the most important hockey league in the world.”

According to R.K Shetty, President, Karnataka State Hockey Association, “I must compliment ING Vysya Life’s foresight. I am more than confident that the Bangalore Lions will win the league this year. We have the right balance in our team, and we are going for the kill this year. ING Vysya Life’s effort to promote the team in the region will further grow the popularity of the game as well as players representing the team. This should inspire our players to play to the best of their abilities & emerge victorious.”

Arjun Hallappa, Captain, Bangalore Lions, was ecstatic about the announcement. “We would like to thank ESPN STAR Sports and ING Vysya Life for all the being provided to hockey. It is this support, which must come to this game in which we work so very hard and give it our best. Sponsorships are extremely important for the motivation of players as well. Bangalore Lions are going to roar loud this year. We will definitely better our last year’s performance & give winning PHL 2006 our best shot.”

In addition to the Bangalore Lions title sponsorship, ING Vysya Life will also be awarding the “Lion of the day” to each man of the match for Tier I and Tier II games. The Tier I ‘Lion of the day’ will be awarded Rs 10, 000 while Tier II ‘Lion of the day’ will be rewarded Rs 5000. ‘Lion of the day’ during the best of 3 finals will get Rs 15,000 each.

IHF also already announced important changes in the format of PHL 06.

The changes have been made after a detailed analysis of the inaugural league, which was held at Hyderabad from January 13, 2005 till February 13, 2005. The most notable change is the introduction of the Third Umpire for the first time in the world of Hockey. The on-field umpires will be equipped with mobile mikes to make the game more & more involving. In addition, Tier I in PHL 06 will have a
‘Best of Three Finals’, unlike last year where the winner was decided after a round robin league. The top two teams from Tier I, after the round robin league, will compete in the ‘Best of Three’ finals.

To ensure that more and more people are able to view the fixtures, Tier I matches will be played in the evening at 7:00 pm starting the Thursday of each week and running across on Friday, Saturday and Sunday till the end of the league. Evening viewing will lead to an increase in stadium attendance and will also make for convenient viewing for fans wanting to catch the games on television.

Like last year, each game will have four quarters of 17 minutes and 30