New Delhi - Three former captains are among the eight Pakistani players who have signed up for the controversial World Series of Hockey, which is being promoted by the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) and Nimbus Sports.
Rehan Butt, Zeeshan Ashraf and the legendary Shakeel Abbasi are the three former captains while the other players are Mudassar Ali, Tariq Aziz, Adnan Maqsood, Waseem Ahmad and Imran Warsi.
Butt will lead a team in the World Series of Hockey, which is not recognised by the International Hockey Federation (FIH).
"I am honoured to be a captain of one of the teams. World Series Hockey will see a face off between the best international and Indian players and I am proud to be part of this prestigious and highly anticipated event" said Butt.
Yannick Colaco, COO Nimbus Sport, said: "The response from the players and members of the global hockey fraternity has been overwhelming."
"The top players from the international arena, including Pakistan, have signed contracts and the league is all geared up to enthral fans with a spectacular display of skill," he said.
The World Series, involving 61 matches, will be held from Dec 15 to Jan 22. It will be a multi-city franchise-based League with players being allocated to the teams based on the internationally-accepted and practised 'draft' system.
The inaugural edition of the league will comprise eight teams with matches across as many cities, six of which are Delhi, Chandigarh, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore. The remaining slots will go to two from Bhopal, Pune, Rourkela, Ranchi, Imphal, Lucknow and Kolkata.
Some of the Indian stars like Rajpal Singh, Sandeep Singh, Adrian D'Souza, Sardara Singh, Prabhjot Singh, Arjun Halappa, Diwakar Ram, Bharat Chetri, Dhananjay Mahadik, Shivendra Singh, Mandeep Antil, S.V. Sunil, Roshan Minz, William Xalxo and Prabodh Tirkey will also be seen in action.
Today : Sunday - May 27, 2012, 12:25pm (GMT+5.5)
