Top Indian players endorse World Series Hockey

Sudheendra Tripathi, TNN

MUMBAI: Three million dollars in the form of prize money. Eight franchisees – a pool of 176 players – and a total investment of around Rs 125 crores. These numbers are lucrative enough to make heads turn and tongues wag.

It is no surprise then, that some of India’s biggest names in hockey turned up for the announcement of the World Series Hockey (WSH) tournament which is scheduled to be played from December 15 to January 22, 2012.

Arjun Hallapa, Prabhjot Singh, Sardara Singh and Adrian D’Souza were present at the announcement function in the capacity as captains of four of those eight teams. Drag flick ace Sandeep Singh was also present. And all this in the middle of a national camp which is currently on in Bangalore.

When asked if the players had procured the required permission, one of them said: “We came here because we had to be here. If/or any action will be taken, we will come to know only tomorrow when we return.”

Another of the national campers present on Thursday quipped, “Our bags are in Bangalore, but our body is here.”

But that’s exactly the sentiment each of the players must be sharing. And there’s nothing wrong if they do. For, up for grabs is a life-turning opportunity. True, some of India’s top players are employed with some of the biggest public sector companies in the country. And turning out for their employers not only gives them national reckoning they also get paid very handsomely.

Some of them even ply their trade in the European Leagues and return with much-needed international exposure and along with it, in their baggage is also a sizeable pay cheque. But these fancy deals are reserved only for a handful of India’s hockey stars.

The blueprint presented by the organizers of WSH promises a rosy future for India’s talented but deprived lot of hockey players though. According to the organizers, there would be eight teams participating in the league. Each team will have a 21-member squad, excluding the coach and support staff. And the league is designed in such a way that only five of the 21-member squad will comprise of foreigners. Effectively, 136 Indian hockey players will get an opportunity to showcase their skills and in the bargain earn a decent amount in remuneration too.

Indian selectors who were present at the recently-concluded Senior National hockey championships in Bhopal kept insisting that they will focus on a core group of about 40 members with the aim of picking up a decent team for future international fixtures. But with the WSH coming up with a concrete plan, it is show time for players who failed to make a cut in to the core group.

“This will help players a great deal. It is certainly a great step ahead for Indian hockey,” Olympian Prabhjot Singh saidon on Thursday.

Prabhjot’s campmate in Bangalore and one the skippers, Adrian D’Souza also felt that hockey in India will benefit a great deal from this project.

First Facts:

176 players (40 internationals, 136 Indian)

Eight teams

$2 million in prize-money

$1 m in incentives based on performances

Three-year contracts to all players

Big Names

Indians: Adrian D’Souza, Bharat Chetri, Prabhjot Singh, Arjun Halappa, Sandeep Singh, Sardara Singh, Shivendra Singh, Prabodh Tirkey, William Xalxo.

Foreigners: Lucas Villa (Argentina), Rehan Butt, Shakeel Abbasi ( Pakistan) Rodrigo Graza (Spain), Brent Livermore (Australia), Jiwa Mohan ( Malaysia) and Lee Sun Ming (Korea).