By Rajeev Kumar
Bhubaneswar, Jan 20: Just like the lucrative Indian Premiere League (IPL), the doors of the Hockey India League (HIL) will remain closed for Pakistani players even as the tournament has gained in popularity due to participation of players from all over the world in the last two editions.
Ahead of the opening match of the HIL 2015, HI CEO Elena Norman stated here Tuesday that there are no plans for inducting Pakistani players in the league. Only a day ago, current India skipper Sardar Singh and former India captain Ajit Pal Singh had advocated the inclusion of Pakistan players in the HIL.
“We need to follow government rules and regulations in terms of their participation. At the moment we haven’t looked beyond organising the tournament this year,” said Elena who is here to oversee the final preparations for the tournament starting Thursday.
Elena is confident about the success of the tournament this year and is expecting a huge turnout at the Kalinga Stadium, much like the Champions Trophy here recently.
“Tickets have been sold out and we are expecting a full house,” Elena said. “We are here to finalise everything ahead of the opening ceremony,” she added.
Success of the last two editions of the HIL has prompted the HI officials to aim for inducting more teams in future events.
“Definitely the last two editions have been successful. We are looking to include two more teams by 2016 and have 10 teams in the tournament by 2018,” Elena informed.
Kalinga Lancers will take on Ranchi Rays in the opening match of the tournament.
