Indian players have taken advance to play in WSH: Colaco

NEW DELHI: All the top Indian players have taken “advance” to play in the World Series Hockey promoted by Nimbus, confirmed company’s CEO Yannick Colaco.

The first edition of the WSH will start on December 17. “Out of the 200 players, we have 146 Indian players. We can confirm that all players including the top 50 Indian players who have played for India in the last three-four years have been paid an advance amount which confirms their participation,” Colaco told the mediapersons on Wednesday.

Incidentally, during the first media conference of the WSH, there was controversy regarding senior players like Sandeep Singh, Sardara Singh, and Adrian D’Souza being present which led to their suspension by Hockey India which was subsequently lifted.

Colaco said that playing in WSH shouldn’t be looked in a manner that Indian players are being lured for big money.

“We have categorically told the players that if there are any international commitments, they should honour that first. That is specifically the reason why we have scheduled our tournament during the time when Indian players don’t have an international commitment,” Colaco added.

About the format, he said that the players would be picked by the eight franchises through draft system similar to what is practised in the NBA.

Each franchise can at the maximum have 25 players each of whose price is fixed. The franchise will be given a docket number which will help them while zeroing in on their choice. Also the players can earn from an incentive pool of around $3 million as performance bonuses.

Colaco confirmed that they have already struck a deal with two business houses who will be buying a franchise each.

“We have got atleast 45 expressions of interest from various business groups. There is a lot of craze for Bhopal franchise with as many six business groups showing interest.”