IPL-style WSH event in India put off till Feb.29

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, (WSH) 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 Dec.17 to Jan.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 till after the Olympic qualifiers. IHF officials said the WSH will now begin on Feb.29, three days after the qualifiers end on Feb.26.“We did not want to put the national players who had signed up with us to any trouble,” IHF president RK Shetty said.