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NEW DELHI: A lucrative, but unsanctioned, field hockey tournament due to start this month along the lines of cricket's Indian Premier League has been postponed, organisers said on Monday.
The multi-million-dollar World Series Hockey, promoted by the unrecognised Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) and backed by the Nimbus television company, had threatened the country's Olympic qualification.
The tournament, slated from December 17 to January 22 across various venues in India, clashed with the dates of the Indian team's ongoing camp to prepare for the Olympic qualifiers to be held in New Delhi in February.
India, winners of eight Olympic field hockey gold medals who failed to qualify for the 2008 Beijing Games, have to win the New Delhi event to make the trip to London.
At least 12 top Indian stars had written to the organisers, asking them to put off the WSH until after the Olympic qualifiers.
IHF officials said the WSH will now begin on February 29, three days after the qualifiers end on February 26.
“We did not want to put the national players who had signed up with us to any trouble,” IHF president R.K. Shetty told the Press Trust of India news agency.
“I want them to play in the Olympic qualifiers and I will be happy if India qualifies for the London Olympics.”
One of the richest events in the sport, with prize and appearance money topping $3 million, the WSH had attracted top players from India and a few from overseas in a franchise-based contest.
But the event did not have the support of the International Hockey Federation (FIH), which warned that any player taking part would be banned from international tournaments like the Olympics.
The world governing body opposed the WSH because it was backed by the IHF and not the officially recognised Hockey India.
Indian players, who are not paid fees for national duty and saw the WSC as a way to secure their financial future, had been caught in the crossfire between the two rival bodies.
Hockey, which remains India's national sport despite the country's obsession with cricket, has been relegated to the background in recent years due to the team's poor showing in major events.
