The Indian men’s hockey team will play against Germany in October as announced by Hockey India on Tuesday, September 24. Such matches against the top sides do help as a confidence booster. “We always want to play against a side better in ranking than us,” said Bhola Nath Singh, the Hockey India General Secretary, in an exclusive chat to RevSportz. “These exposure series will help the players a lot. We’re constantly in touch with the top sides so we visit either way for such engagements.”
Taking about exposure for the players and providing platforms, one subject that has been doing the rounds for quite some time now is the revival of the Hockey India League (HIL). The HIL, a franchise hockey league started by Hockey India in 2013, was discontinued after 2017 due to financial issues. It was a huge platform for players to groom themselves and showcase their talents. Young players got to rub shoulders with experienced stars. Even during the Paris Olympics, there were multiple unofficial discussions among media and players about the league’s revival.
Exclusive 🚨
“Hockey India League soon to be announced. Preparations are almost done” – @TheHockeyIndia General Secretary @Bholana97117226.
He shared his thoughts on Kishan Pathak and Suraj’s performance in the #AsianChampionsTrophy2024 and the future of Indian goalkeeping in… pic.twitter.com/G0thdjWXJI
— RevSportz Global (@RevSportzGlobal) September 25, 2024
Bhola Nath clarified that the league would be restarted soon and they were in the final stages of preparation before an official announcement was made. “If everything goes according to plans and by God’s grace, we should be making the official announcement before the 10th of the coming month”, he said. “The preparations are almost done.”
The tournament will be for men and women. “There will be eight men’s teams and six women’s teams,” said Bhola Nath. “We will do a press conference pretty soon on the details of the teams and their franchise owners.” This edition will have a women’s league, which was not the case in previous iterations of the tournament.
The venues chosen for the upcoming tournament are Rourkela and Ranchi. Bhola Nath stated that there was consensus from the federation and the team owners to keep it to only two venues for the first season (after revival) to reduce logistical challenges. “It was a mutual decision on the team owners’ and federation’s part, but it’ll be increased in the upcoming seasons,” he said. “The main reason behind keeping it to two venues for the first season was to keep a check on the cost for all the stakeholders. We will increase the number of venues based on the response.”