Hockey India to conduct International Men Hockey League

NEW DELHI: Hockey India shall be conducting the International Men Hockey League under the aegis of the International Hockey Federation (FIH) from 2013.

This annual league with various teams owned by franchisees will be played on a home and away basis where the best hockey talent from India and the world’s most coveted current stars, not discarded or retired players, will be showcased together in fast and furious prize money combats.

Hockey India said in a statement that the Federation of International Hockey (FIH) has been requested for a 45 day window in their calendar and also not to conduct any other tournament during this period.

The statement further said that 2012 shall witness the greatest sporting extravaganza, the Olympic Games at London, where the world’s twelve best men and women hockey teams will vie for top honours. It is every sportsman’s ultimate desire to don the national colours at the Olympic Games and stand on the podium with a medal hanging from the neck.

It was at London in 1948 that India won its first Olympic Gold Medal with the men hockey team proudly seeing the tricolour being hoisted to the strains of the National Anthem.

Under the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF), India failed to play at the last Olympics for the first time in eighty years, being knocked out in the Qualifier which sent shock waves throughout the country. It was a crying shame and was nothing short of a national catastrophe.

With Hockey India, sports ministry, Sports Authority of India and Indian Olympic Association leaving no stone unturned for the teams preparation for the London Olympic Qualifier in February 2012, IHF has again unveiled its sinister and evil designs trying to lure Indian players for a World Series Hockey (WSH) league, an FIH Unsanctioned event which attracts strict penalties and suspension for players and officials.

The timing of this event has been deliberately slotted by IHF to derail and hamper the training regimen of the players currently in the national camp.

Everyone is aware that the players’ periodic training cycle stresses on attaining peak performance levels during the competition. All patriotic citizens and hockey aficionados hope India will play in the next Olympic Games and be on the world stage again.