World Series Hockey from Dec 15

Mumbai - The second edition of the World Series Hockey is to be held from Dec 15 to Jan 20 with a total of 45 matches.

The tournament, to be played over five weeks, will have 14 matches less than the last edition played from Feb 29 to April 2.

Importantly, the number of teams have been reduced to seven from eight with the Chandigarh Comets and first edition champions Sher-e-Punjab uniting into one Punjab team.

President of the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) RK Shetty said: “For the Punjab teams, we realised Punjab was too patriotic a market to be split. One team will ensure a huge following.”

There will be one match-a-day on weekdays and two matches on weekends. The weekday matches will commence at 8 p.m. and the two weekend matches start at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m., respectively.