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Tag: Gagan Ajit Singh

  • President Kalam blesses Premier Hockey League; meets captains

    President Kalam blesses Premier Hockey League; meets captains

    New Delhi, November 29, 2005 – The honorable president of India, his excellency Dr A P J Abdul Kalam today met the five captains of the Premier Hockey League Tier I teams to convey his best wishes before the start of the second edition of the innovative Premier Hockey League. The five captains Dilip Tirkey (Hyderabad Sultans), Gagan Ajit Singh (Sher-e-Jallandhar), Viren Rasquinha (Maratha Warriors), Arjun Halappa (Bangalore Hi-Fliers) and Rajpal Singh (Chandigarh Dynamos) called on the President to seek his blessings for the future of the League and his support for the sport. K P S Gill, President, Indian Hockey Federation; K Jothikumaran, Secretary General of the Indian Hockey Federation; R C Venkateish, Managing Director, ESPN Software India Pvt Ltd; and S S Dasgupta, Managing Director, Leisure Sports Management, also met His Excellency along with the five captains

    Giving words of encouragement to the five Premier Hockey League Captains, the President of India, Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, said, “You must always think that you are winning when you are practicing. This habit along with hard work and God’s blessings will help you in winning. You should become Captain of the problem and defeat the problem itself.”

    The President further added, “Like any other economic activity sports & games are also important.” A staunch advocate of developing the youthful human resources of the country, the President had said in his address at the opening of the 14th Parliament: “The youth constitute a large and vibrant segment of India’s population. Their energy, zeal and motivation will be harnessed through special programmes to enable them to realize their potential and achieve their ambitions in all activities, ranging from economic and social spheres to the arts and sports. We extend the very best wishes to our sportspersons participating in all forthcoming events.”

    Speaking on the occasion, K P S Gill said, “I am extremely grateful to the President for giving his valuable time to inspire the five captains of the Premier Hockey League. I am sure that the encouraging words from the President will inspire all the teams to give their best during the league.”

    ESPN Software India Pvt Ltd. Managing Director R C Venkateish said, “The league has an interesting format which is aimed at getting the people back to watch India’s national sport.”

    The visibly happy captains presented a ‘PHL Hockey Stick’ to the President. Speaking on behalf of all the players and captains, Dilip Tirkey, Captain of the Indian Hockey Team and Captain of Hyderabad Sultans, said, “PHL could not have asked for a better boost. The Championship, only in its second avatar, is already recognized as the most innovative one in the world. His Excellency’s gesture will inspire us to scale further heights.”

  • ESPN Star Sports introduces third umpire for PHL

    ESPN Star Sports introduces third umpire for PHL

    MUMBAI: The Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) has announced the composition of all the five Tier I teams along with their coaches and managers for the second edition of Premier Hockey League (PHL) next year. ESPN Star Sports (ESS) is IHF’s broadcast partner for the initiative.

    In order to bolster the coverage ESS has announced that special mikes will be introduced for the on-field umpires for the first time in the history of hockey. There will also be a third umpire – a concept that has helped drastically improve the quality of decisions made in cricket.
     
    ESS MD R C Venkateish said, “We are on verge of taking the Hockey broadcast to the next level. We realise that there is a strong need to make the game of Hockey more and more viewer friendly. “

    “Therefore, we decided to give special mobile mikes for the on-field umpires. These mikes will take the hockey viewing experience to a new high as the followers of the game will understand why a particular decision was given by the referee. The introduction of third umpire, mikes will ensure that our broadcast touches a completely different level. Our world class production crew, with some of the finest equipment flown in from our Singapore offices, where we have a state of the art production centre, will ensure that PHL telecast is amongst the best in the world,”adds Venkateish.

    Like last year, each game will have four quarters of 17 minutes and 30 seconds each, instead of the two halves. The winner, within the stipulated time, will get three points for each victory, while the team winning in the extra time will share the points 2:1.

    Speaking on the role of third umpire, PHL consultant Maurits Hendriks, who is also incumbent coach of the Champions Trophy winning Spanish team said, “It is not a secret that hockey will gain immensely with the introduction of third umpire. It has been debated since a very long time and I am glad to note that PHL has once again come forward to
    embrace the challenge. 5 January, 2006 will be a key date in the history of hockey broadcast. We need to introduce the third umpire in a very subtle manner so as to ensure that we do not slow down the game with unnecessary disruptions.”

    “The third umpire will come into play only if the field umpire wants to take a second opinion. In addition, the facility of the third umpire will be limited to Tier I matches only. We will increase the ambit as we go along” added Hendriks.

    11 foreign players have confirmed their participation in the Chandigarh edition of Premier Hockey League (PHL). They include two international captains – Jorge Lombi from Argentina and Mohammad Saqlain from Pakistan. All the 11 foreign players have also been allotted to the five Tier I teams.

    Dilip Tirkey will captain the Hyderabad Sultans.
    Gagan Ajit Singh will lead the Sher-e-Jallandhar. Viren Rasquinha will helm the Maratha Warriors.
    Arjun Hallappa looks to take the Bangalore Hi-Fliers to the victory podium while Rajpal Singh leads the Chandigarh Dynamos.