New Delhi [India], October 13 : The much-anticipated revival of the Hockey India League is set to take off with the Men's Auction in New Delhi on Sunday. 400 domestic and over 150 overseas men's players have registered to stand a chance to feature in one of the eight Men's Teams when the Hockey India League kicks off in Rourkela later this year.
Each team will have a purse of Rs 4 crores to pick players that have been categorized under three base price slabs: Rs 2 lahks, Rs 5 lahks and Rs 10 lakhs over the next two days.
The auction will feature stars like Harmanpreet Singh, Hardik Singh, Manpreet Singh Mandeep Singh, Sanjay, Jugraj Singh, Jarmanpreet Singh, Amit Rohidas, Sukhjeet Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Gurjant Singh, Abhishek, Krishan B Pathak, Sumit, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Shamsher Singh, Raj Kumar Pal, Nilakanta Sharma and many more Indian regulars. Adding to the excitement, former Indian hockey legends such as Rupinder Pal Singh, Birendra Lakra, and Dharamvir Singh have also registered.
A few of the International hockey icons eager to play in the revamped Hockey India League are Arthur van Doren, Alexander Hendrickx, Gonzalo Peillat, Jip Janssen, Thierry Brinkman, Dayaan Cassiem, Tom Wickham, Jean-Paul Danneberg, Pirmin Blaak, Jorrit Croon, and Mats Grambusch.
"The Hockey India League is taking its first steps as a revamped league and we are excited to see it take off after years of planning and hard work. We have an unprecedented number of players taking part in the Auction, which shows that fans and players alike have been longing for the league to return. The Hockey India League is going to be a huge success and we cannot wait to see the players don their jerseys and take the field," Hockey India President Dilip Tirkey commented as quoted by Hockey India (HI).
Hockey India Secretary General Bhola Nath Singh also weighed in saying, "All preparations are in place for an edge of the seat Auction tomorrow. A huge number of players are set to go under the hammer in the next few days and I wish all the best to the players who have registered themselves for the auction. We hope to see some formidable teams formed in the next three days."
Each team will consist of 24 players, including 16 Indian players (with a mandatory inclusion of 4 junior players) and 8 overseas players, reflecting HIL's vision of promoting both local and global talent.