Bits and Pieces
.::.


Wednesday, November 17, 2004  

"Lights ON"

Pic Courtesy: Bharatiya HockeyHockey is vying for the nation's attention. And it's doing that by sporting an all-new look.
> PREMIER HOCKEY LEAGUE <
PHL has been a long-proposed idea and the time for realization is just around. League starts on January 13, 2005. Almost anyone related to the game is all excited about the prospect of this venture. Particularly, ESPN Star Sports. Any such marketing campaign can just not be complete without enough backing from the media. Thank Lord, ESS is hyper about it.

"ESPN Star Sports is committed to growing PHL as a sports property and we are bullish about the growth of the league", says R C Venkateish, Managing Director, ESPN Software India Pvt. Ltd. >>
GREAT.

CHANGES >
| Each game will have four quarters of 17 minutes and 30 second each, instead of the two halves.
| Time-outs are in.
| A team could have a maximum of 5 foreign players. Sohail Abbas, playing alongside his Indian rivals seems a wonderful prospect. India's glamour sport, Cricket, hasnt got anything to boast in that order. [Although it has a role to play]

TEAMS (names rivalling those of IndiaBaseball Super League) >
Tier1 teams and their captains:
1. Sher-e-Jallandhar - Gagan Ajit Singh
2. Maratha Warriors - Viren Rasquinha
3. Chennai Veerans - Ignace Tirkey (TOI lovingly calls them "Chennai Veterans")
4. Hyderabad Sultans - Dilip Tirkey
5. Bangalore High-Flyers - Arjun Halappa

Tier2 teams:
Delhi Dazzlers, Lucknow Nawabs, Imphal Rangers, Bengal Tigers and Chandigarh Dynamos

HIGHLIGHTS >
. "Rs 7.1 million as prize money"
. "...ESPN Star Sports will play the pivotal role of marketing, producing and broadcasting PHL for the next 10 years"
. PHL is a result of over three years of hard labour put in by the IHF, ESPN Star Sports and Leisure Sports Management (LSM).

Now, with all these in place, I so dearly wish Rajeev Mishra recovers in time to be successful in his comeback mission. PHL could be his perfect launch vehicle. [Pics of Rajeev, in his heyday: 1 | 2 ]

Hockey's BACK.

posted by pradeep | Permalink | (2)

2 Comments:

Lights, Camera, play hockey!

Hooray...its about time...and its heartwarming that India's national game is getting the kind of support that would, hopefully, provide a berth that boosts Indian hockey back to its heyday glory.

Cautious. Optimism. Geaux Hockey.

By Blogger Nth Dimension, at 9:31 PM 

Yes, optimism is all around.
ESS' ten-year deal. It cant get better than that. :)

Hope we get a chance to watch the matches.
"DirecTV beams up 4 Indian channels" (Star Plus, Star One, Star News and Vijay). Could've added ESS to it! Do not know if fieldhockey.tv will get the rights. Know of any other source?

By Blogger pradeep, at 7:18 PM 

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