90 Indian players sign up for Hockey India league

New Delhi - Indian hockey’s best 90 players have signed up for the Hockey India (HI) League players’ auction to be held next month in the run up to the prestigious six-team tournament that will make its debut in January 2013.

HI secretary-general and league’s chairman Narinder Batra said on Wednesday that the cream of Indian hockey, including the 32 junior players who are receiving a stipend of Rs.10,000 a month, have signed up for the auction.

“We are delighted that the top Indian players will be able to rub shoulders with the world’s best during the Hockey India League,” he said.

Bharat Chetri, who led India in the Olympics, and PR Sreejesh are among the goal-keepers while drag-flick exponents Sandeep Singh, VR Raghunath and Rupinder Pal Singh are among the 14 backs.

Indian vice-captain Sardar Singh leads the list of 25 midfielders while SV Sunil, Shivendra Singh, Tushar Khandker and Gurvinder Singh Chandi are among the 41 forwards.

“We are pleased with the progress of HIL. Sahara India, Jaypee Group and Uniexcel Group have already taken up HIL franchises for Lucknow, Punjab and Ranchi, respectively. We will soon announce the remaining three franchisees. We have released a list of 14 Pakistan players who have agreed to be part of the HIL Players’ Auction and will soon announce players from other top hockey-playing nations,” Batra said.

“We are confident that Hockey India League will succeed in capturing the imagination of the sports lovers in India and overseas. The fact that FIH (International Hockey Federation) has earmarked a window for the League shows its importance. It has evoked enormous interest among players and coaches and promises to be a one-of-a-kind event,” he said.

Goalkeepers: Bharat Chetri, PR Sreejesh, P Thirumala Rao, Nanak Singh, Keerthi Mallesh Gowda, Keshav Dutt, Sushant Tirkey, Naveen Kumar, Subodh Tirkey, Phirembam Bisham Singh.

Defenders: VR Raghunath, Rupinder Pal Singh, Sandeep Singh, Harbir Singh, Rahul Shilpkar, Chandan Singh, Gaganpreet Singh, Sukhmanjit Singh, Hans Raj, Gagandeep Singh, Amit Rohidas, Sampath Kumar Maylaram, Sumit Topno, Vikramjit Singh.

Midfielders: Sardar Singh, Gurbaj Singh, Danish Mujtaba, Birendra Lakra Jr., Ignace Tirkey, Manpreet Singh, K Kothajit Singh, Bipin Kishor Kerketta, MB Aiyappa, Pradeep Mor, M Gunasekar, Amit Kumar Malik, Captain Singh, Jatinder Singh, Manish Bishnoi, Jarmanpreet Singh, Baljit Singh, Surender Kumar, Harjeet Singh, Rocky Lohchab, Suresh Toppo, Saroj Barla, Gurinder Singh, Nilakanta Sharma, Vikas Choudhary.

Forwards: SV Sunil, Tushar Khandker, Shivendra Singh, Dharamvir Singh, Gurvinder Singh Chandi, SK Uthappa, Sarvanjit Singh, Nitin Thimmaiah, Pradhan Somanna, Chinglensana Singh, Prabhdeep Singh, Akashdeep Singh, Prabhjot Singh, Yuvraj Valmiki, Gurmail Singh, Ranjit Singh, Dilbag Singh, Mohit Singh Thakur, Naveen Antil, Talwinder Singh, Tarandeep Singh, Amon Mirash Tirkey, Parvinder Singh, Vinit Kamble, Vikas Choudhary, Stanli Victor Minz, Anup Valmiki, PL Thimmanna, Sukhdev Singh, Mandeep Singh, Malik Singh, Satbir Singh, Harsahib Singh, Vijay Thapa Amon, Lowrence, Munish Rana, Siddharth Shanker, Kiran Kumar Thockchom, KD Bidappa, Mikhail Barla, Arvind Kujur.