IPL-style hockey league to get official backing?

Dawn: IPOH, Malaysia: Hockey’s world governing body has revealed it is negotiating with sponsors to start a high profile league in India.

“A total of four different groups have approached us for a hockey league and we are assessing them all. In fact we are discussing the financial situation with a couple of them,” Leandro Negre, the president of the International Hockey Federation (FIH) said late Friday.

Negre said the FIH would approval the hiring of foreign players, adding that “we need to ensure that the recruitment of these players will not affect the major world tournaments”.

The FIH chief was in Malaysia for the Sultan Azlan Shah hockey tournament in Ipoh, capital of the northern Perak state.

A new Indian league called the World Hockey Series was supposed to start later this year but no dates or details have been fixed and it has not been announced who would run the league.
The FIH has said it will not sanction any league organised by the Indian Hockey Federation, which is not recognised by the world body.

“I have read some criticism that the FIH is in India to make money, but I need to emphasise that this is not true,” Negre said.

“We had a very successful World Cup and have had an agreement with (motorcycle manufacturer) Hero Honda that it will sponsor all FIH events in the years to come,” he added.

Negre, who is expected to arrive in New Delhi on Saturday to iron out details for the proposed league, also announced that India had offered to host the inaugural World Inter-Club Championship in 2013.

“India’s agreed to bear the cost of the World Inter-Club Championship, which will be a knock-out competition played over one weekend,” he said.

Posted in: IPL-Syle Hockey