Eight WSH franchise teams identified
Bhopal, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi, Karnataka, Mumbai, Pune and Punjab would be the eight city-based franchise outfits that would take part in the USD 2 million dollar World Series Hockey to be held across different parts of the country from December 17 to January 22 next year.
Bhopal, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi, Karnataka, Mumbai, Pune and Punjab would be the eight city-based franchise outfits that would take part in the USD 2 million dollar World Series Hockey to be held across different parts of the country from December 17 to January 22 next year.
Four of the teams would have overseas players captaining the side and the player draft was held on Monday to finalise the outfits.
"Each squad would have 25 players and not more than six non-Indian players have been allowed per team. Each outfit would also have four under-19 and as many under-21 players from India," said Yannick Colaco, chief operating officer of Nimbus Sport, which has launched the event in association with the Indian Hockey Federation.
Bhopal, Karnataka, Mumbai and Punjab would be led by Indians - mid-fielders Sardara Singh and Arjun Halappa, goalkeeper Adrian D'Souza and forward Prabhjot Singh - respectively.
The other four outfits - Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi and Pune - are to be captained by Rehan Butt of Pakistan, Brent Livermore of Australia, Lucas Vila of Argentina and Rodrigo Garza of Spain.
The coaches are V Bhaskaran (Bhopal), Harendra Singh (Chandigarh), Jose Brasa (Chennai), Roelant Oltmans (Delhi), Jude Felix (Karnataka), Andrew Meredith (Mumbai), Gundeep Singh (Pune) and Rajinder Singh (Punjab).