LAHORE, Jan 3: Pakistan’s eight hockey players, out of a total of twelve, left for India on Wednesday to take part in the Indian Premier Hockey league starting in Chennai from Thursday.

The first phase of the league will be held in Chennai while the second at Chandigarh till Feb 28.

Those who left for India are Rehan Butt, Mohammad Zubair, Adnan Zakir, Imran Warsi, Tariq Aziz, Imran Khan, Adnan Maqsood and Sajjad Anwar.

Four players, however, could not proceed due to different reasons. Shakeel Abbasi missed the flight and Mohammad Imran was not issued the NOC by the Pakistan Army while Ihsanullah did not apply for the visa. Goal-keeper Salman Akbar, who married the other day, has to go to India on Jan 6.