Wasim Ahmed, (Pakistani captain): This trip is specially sweet for me not only because of the new format which is making the games very fast but also because of my honeymoon. Hockey and Honeymoon may not go hand in hand and that’s why I retired from hockey before my marriage after the Champions Trophy. But my federation refused to allow me to play domestic hockey or in foreign leagues if I don’t play for the country. So I backtracked and realised that my honeymoon with hockey is not over. Since I am already married (New Year’s Day) I have no choice but to make my honeymoon and hockey together. Of course, it is always a pleasure and pride to wear Pakistan colours and my only regret which made me take the decision to retire was we were not winning anything major and I thought I will make way for youngsters and make my way for my family way.

Zafar Iqbal (Olympic gold medallist & Former National coach): For two main reasons, I welcome the ongoing PHL. India is one country that needed something like this very badly to spur its men to its national game. Non-hockey nations like France, Wales also have leagues but its doubtful their countrymen watch or bother about it. But India is different. Hockey has weightage and strength in India. Events like PHL will be successful as many will follow them. Because of PHL, our youngsters are exposed to what hockey is and how fast the game is. As the matches are beamed live that too in prime time, lot many people are watching it. I also feel those who happen to watch the matches are happy too, as all the four matches held so far proved to be exciting, never a moment. Secondly, our domestic hockey circuit has become boring. Where is novelty there? It’s always handful of teams reach the finals like Punjab Police or Indian Airlines. Here in PHL the teams, foreign players, colourful dress everything is giving a whiff of fresh air. No doubt, PHL is elitist now, and I hope it is taken to all States in the future.

Ramandeep Singh (Olympic captain & Coach, Sher-e-Jalandhar): PHL will be a blessing for Indian hockey if we make use of new rules being tried out here. India has been losing its international matches in the first or last five minutes. It is here these four quarters and mandatory stoppages gives us a chance to concentrate more during the first and last few minutes. Now we have three breaks for every quarter, a good idea indeed. Players are better prepared to tackle the sudden moves of the opponents and expose them to the danger of losing focus in these crucial periods. At top level, there is not much of a difference because of these rules. A good coach and a good player will easily tackle and make use of these new rules. The quality of the matches in the first four days of the PHL was very good. The games are fast and new tactics are visible in every match. If at all the quality will only improve in the coming weeks. The 4-day break help the players train together and combine well. Bangalore Hifliers and Chennai Veerans look better and are my favourites. They have lot of current India players. Everyone hail my team Jalandhar as the favourites, but am not. See we don’t have even one current Indian player in our team. It will take time for us to gel as a team. The best match so far was Bangalore vs Jalandhar. We played some fantastic patterns and they were good in attack. Their coach used a lot of modern techniques which their implemented perfectly.
an s2h effort