WSH should be exciting: Livermore

Former Olympic and World Cup gold medallist, Brent Livermore, believes that the inaugural World Series Hockey to be organised by Nimbus Sport from December 17 to January 22 in different parts of India, will be a huge opportunity to showcase not only young talents across the globe, but also provide the players an experience of different styles of hockey.

In a teleconference with the local media on Wednesday, Livermore, a former Australian captain, said the concept, with a total prize money of $2 million, “should be exciting and takes the game to a new level.”

“We are aware of the huge popularity hockey enjoys in India,” he said.

“The WSH is a huge commercial exercise which should encourage more and more players to take part, for it will give them satisfaction on the financial front too,” he said.

“It is disappointing that the international hockey body (FIH) has taken an indifferent view. Personally, I thought they should have taken a more pragmatic look at the concept which gives even the coaches a rich experience of learning new things,” he said.

COMPARISON WITH IPL

Making a comparison with the IPL in cricket, Livermore said the inaugural edition, like the IPL, might have some teething problems on the organisational front, but the officials in Nimbus Sport were capable of sorting them out.

The former Aussie skipper feels the WSH is a concept which is aimed at bringing different facets of the game together at the global level.

“It will definitely see strong competition and this is evident by the franchisee’s interest also,” he said.

Reflecting on what it means to be part of the WSH and an Olympic gold medallist, Livermore said that for any sportsperson, representing the country in the Olympics and winning the gold is the ultimate honour.