World Series Hockey kicks off on 29 Feb

MUMBAI: The organisers of World Series Hockey have announced the schedule for inaugural edition of the professional hockey to be held from 29 February - 2 April.

The hockey league, involving 59 matches with as many as 56 league matches besides two semis and a final, will kick-start with the Chandigarh Comets taking Bhopal Badshahs on their home venue, Chandigarh.

The organisers have planned a grand opening ceremony preceding the inaugural game in Chandigarh.

In order to grab maximum eyeballs, all the matches will be played during prime time. The league stage will have two matches a day at 7 pm and 9 pm.

The top four teams from the league stage will qualify for the semi-finals to be held on April 1 at 6 pm and 8.30 PM. The venues for the semi-final and the final match have not been finalised.

The grand final will be held on April 2 at 8.30 pm, and the finalist with a higher seed from the league stage will host this game. The league will have four off-days on 13, 18, 22 and 31 March, a day before the crucial semi-final will be held.

WSH technical director Dennis Meredith said, ?The schedule was drawn up in sync with international tournament guidelines for adequate rest to the players and technical officials between matches. This ensures that the standard of hockey in WSH is top-notch at all times and will be an absolute treat for fans.?

Nimbus Sport COO Yannick Colaco said, ?All stakeholders have been taken into consideration while planning the WSH schedule. Floodlit matches in the evenings will provide the passionate hockey fans with an electrifying environment. With all the matches played at prime time, fans will be able to enjoy world class hockey after they?re back home. This is the first time the passionate Indian fans will have access to world class hockey for 34 days of non-stop prime time action.?

The WSH was launched in 2010 by Indian Hockey Federation in partnership with Nimbus Sport, which holds the commercial rights for the tournament.

With less than a month to go for WSH to start, Nimbus is still to officially announce the franchise owners for Bhopal, Chandigarh and Punjab.

Neo Sports Broadcast, a subsidiary of Nimbus, will telecast the matches on its Neo Sports channel. The tournament offers a record prize money of Rs 100 million.