New Delhi, Jun 12 (UNI) India's men’s and women’s national teams will participate in the Hockey Pro League, a unique global international team-sport league, the International Hockey Federation (FIH) confirmed today. In the FIH World Ranking India is ranked 6th and 12th in men's and women's category respectively. The new league, which is due to launch in January 2019, will see the nine best men’s and women’s teams from around the world play each other both at home and away every year, across a total of 144 games. The fixtures will take place in national stadiums, week in, week out, from January to June. India, one of the world’s best men’s teams, will take on Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Great Britain, Germany, Netherlands, New Zealand and Pakistan, the latter playing their home matches in Scotland. A Silver medal at the Hockey Champions Trophy in London followed by a Gold medal at the 2016 Asian Hockey Champions Trophy in the same year. India also won the 2016 Junior Hockey World Cup, beating Belgium in the Final.
Manpreet Singh, who is currently leading the team at the Hockey World League Semi Final said, “The Hockey Pro League will take the competition between top ranked teams to a whole new level and will generate a lot of interest among Indian fans across the globe.” In 2002, the India women won hockey Gold at the Commonwealth Games, beating the higher ranked Australian and English sides in the process. The women’s team has also enjoyed a resurgence of late, qualifying for the 2016 Olympic Games, after a good performance at the Hockey World League Semi-Finals in Antwerp. They also won Gold at the 2016 Asia Hockey Champions Trophy. India’s women’s team will be up against Argentina, Australia, China, Great Britain, Germany, The Netherlands, New Zealand and US. “This initiative by the FIH will bring a lot of exposure for us and playing top teams at a higher level is always a great way to improve our own skills,” stated Rani, Captain, Indian Women’s Team.
Speaking on the development FIH CEO Jason McCracken said: “We strongly believe that this new competition will fuel the growth of our sport for many years to come, significantly increasing revenues for hockey. It will also allow fans to engage with more world-class hockey more often, whether on TV or live at their national venue." FIH President, Dr Narinder Dhruv Batra added “The Hockey Pro League represents the first major milestone for the Hockey Revolution. Whilst only nine teams have been selected for each League, the quality of information and enthusiasm shown by those who missed out indicate that our sport is developing in an extremely positive way, which clearly shows that hockey has an exciting future ahead.”