Cheetahs and Pune Strykers in World Series Hockey. The team will be spearheaded by ace striker Lucas Vila as captain and one of the world?s best coaches - Roelant Oltmans.

Communication and entertainment company Wizcraft International has acquired the Delhi franchise of World Series Hockey. Wizcraft has been instrumental in shaping the event management and brand activation industry in India.

Wizcraft International director Sabbas Joseph said, "We have always been associated with marquee sports events like the ICC World Cup 2011, Indian Premier League and the Commonwealth Games. We see tremendous opportunity in sports in terms of a business and more importantly in building a loyal fan base. This is an important step that will further expand the canvas for Wizcraft and help build a strong following for our national game. The only way for the national sport is up. Nimbus has brought a lot of passion, dedication to the event. The touch and feel of this event has been professional which is what it should be."

Nimbus Sport COO Yannick Colaco added, "We are delighted to welcome one of India?s biggest entertainment companies - Wizcraft International to the WSH family. We see tremendous opportunity in marrying sports and entertainment and with the extensive global experience that Wizcraft possess; they make a fantastic partner for WSH."

He acknowledges that it took longer than anticipated to sign up the franchises. "We have been in talks with them for a long time. There were details that had to be worked upon. 15 years is a long term commitment and we wanted to make sure that all the bases were covered."

More franchise owners will be announced in the coming days. Apart from Delhi Wizards, Karnataka Lions, Chennai Cheetahs and Pune Strykers the other city based franchises are located in Bhopal, Chandigarh, Punjab and Mumbai. Hyderabad will be added next year added Colaco.

He has also clarified that Pakistani players will take part in WSH. They have got the necessary clearances from their government. Meanwhile the players draft for WSH took place today. Bhopal which is being captained by Sardar Singh has in its lineup the likes of Waseem Ahmed, Baljeet Singh, Casey Henwood and Baljinder Singh. Chandigarh will be captained by Rehan Butt and has got the likes of PR Sreejesh, Bharat Chikara and Ajitesh Roy. Chennai is being captained by Brent Livermore. It has in its team the likes of Bharat chetri, Amit prabhakar, Peter Kelly and Dhananjay Mahadik.

Delhi is being captained by Lucas Vila and has drafted the likes of Manoj Antil, Vickram Kanth, Manjeet Kulu and Shakeel Anbbasi. Karnataka is being captained by Arjun Halappa and has a high profile draft in Dhanraj Pillai. Mumbai is being captained by Adrian DeSouza. It has drafted Viren rasquinha, SV Sunil, Yuvraj Walmiki among others. Pune which is being captained by rodrigo Garcia has drafted among others Vikas Pillay, Diwakar Ram and Gurpreet Singh Guri. Punjab is being cptained by Prabhjot Singh and has drafted the likes of VS Vinaye, Dinesh Ekka, Mark Gunther and Steven Faiij.

The WSH will be held from 17 December, 2011 to 22 January, 2012 and will involve 200 players -- Indian and international -- who will showcase their talent in 61 matches. It will be a multi-city franchise-based League with players being allocated to the teams based on the internationally accepted and practiced ?draft? system.

Also Read:

WSH gets Chennai Cheetahs as first franchisee

Suniel Shetty to spearhead WSH franchise Karnataka Lions

MUMBAI: Close on the heels of announcing the Chennai franchisee, Nimbus? hockey league initiative World Series Hockey (WSH) has announced the Bangalore franchise, which has been acquired by Sporting Ace.

Sporting Ace is a part of the Zentrum Group and has Bollywood action hero Suniel Shetty as the Chief Mentor.

Zentrum Group is a global player in the field of energy, chemicals, education, sports, information technology, consulting, media and outsourcing and works with corporate houses, governments, and institutions. The franchise has been called Karnataka Lions

Shetty said, "I am proud to spearhead the Karnataka Lions in World Series Hockey. I have been the brand ambassador for Indian Hockey and felt it was about time I took a more active role in creating a global platform for our hockey players to excel."

Sporting Ace MD Sagar Pol Chowdhury said, "The Bangalore franchise will be much more than just a profitable venture for us. We are committed to invest in sports and the newly formed entity Sporting Ace will look at promoting multiple sports and help build necessary infrastructure. WSH is the first and most important step in that direction. I am delighted to have Suniel Shetty as the Chief Mentor and his passion for sports is a perfect fit with the vision of our organisation"

Nimbus Sport COO Yannick Colaco said, "We are indeed proud to welcome Suniel Shetty and Sporting Ace to the WSH family. It is heartening to see the passion for Hockey they bring to the table and I am confident this will translate into an extremely large and loyal fan base for the Karnataka Lions".

The WSH will be held from 17 December, 2011 to 22 January, 2012 and will involve 200 players -- Indian and international -- who will showcase their talent in 61 matches. It will be a multi-city franchise-based League with players being allocated to the teams based on the internationally accepted and practiced ?draft? system.

The inaugural edition of the league will comprise eight teams out of Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Pune, Bhopal, Punjab, Ranchi and Rourkela.

Also Read:

WSH gets Chennai Cheetahs as first franchisee

World Series Hockey to have total prize money of Rs 100 mn

MUMBAI: Nimbus? hockey league initiative World Series Hockey has announced the highest ever prize money for any hockey event in the world. The company adds that the champion team in WSH stands to win almost 30 times more prize money, as compared to the Euro Hockey League, the leading domestic Hockey league in Europe

The total prize money, in excess of Rs 100 million is structured in a manner to incentivise teams and players.

As per the plan, champions will get Rs 40 million while runners up will be given Rs 20 million. The team on third and fourth place will get Rs 10 million each.

All WSH franchises have committed to sharing a minimum of 50 per cent of their team winnings with the players, creating a player winning purse of at least Rs 40 million and significantly enhancing the potential of earnings for all the players of the teams who finish in the top four spots of the inaugural season of WSH.

In addition to the prize money listed above, there are several individual awards recognising match winners and stars including:

WSH Rockstar (Most Valuable Player): Rs 10 million
Indian Super Star (Star Indian Player): Rs 5 million
Golden Stick (Highest Goal Scorer): Rs 2.5 million
Game Changer (Best Midfielder, Defender or Goal Keeper): Rs 2.5 million
Rookie of the Year (Best emerging player under 21): Rs 1 million

If an Indian player is adjudged ?WSH Rockstar?, the award for the "Indian Superstar" will go the next best Indian player. This ensures a player prize purse of a minimum Rs 60 million made available to the players of WSH, over and above their contract fees.

Nimbus Sport COO Yannick Colaco said, "This is a definite game changer for hockey players in India and across the world. WSH has ensured that the time for hockey players to take centre stage is finally here! By offering the highest prize money and creating an environment where players compete with the best in the world, youngsters can finally look at playing Hockey as a viable profession."

The WSH will be held from 17 December, 2011 to 22 January, 2012 and will involve 200 players -- Indian and international -- who will showcase their talent in 61 matches.

It will be a multi-city franchise-based League with players being allocated to the teams based on the internationally accepted and practised ?draft? system.

The inaugural edition of the league will comprise eight teams out of Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Pune, Bhopal, Punjab, Ranchi and Rourkela.

MUMBAI: A few months after announcing its World Series Hockey (WSH) initiative, Nimbus has concluded the franchise allocation process and announced Chennai Sports Organisers (CSO) as the franchisee owner for Chennai.

A multi-city franchise-based league, WSH will make all the franchisee announcements over the next few days. The inaugural edition of the league will comprise seven more teams out of Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Pune, Bhopal, Punjab, Ranchi and Rourkela.

The Chennai Sports Organisers director LT Nanwani is also the director and promoter of Jubilee Granites, a mining company in South India that exclusively owns products like ?Black? and ?Black Galaxy? granite. The company?s initial investment in WSH is worth Rs 200 million over 15 years.

Nanwani said, "It is a matter of great pride to own a franchise in the prestigious World Series Hockey. Chennai has always had a strong sports culture and we are committed to strengthen the talent pool of hockey players. Extensive research has revealed that speed is a key attribute of the sport and hence our team is going to be aptly called Chennai Cheetahs."

"India has a strong hockey legacy and we will strive towards bringing the glory back. This is the first step for CSO and in the near future, we will expand our sports business by investing in multiple sports to create greater local connect with the fans. The main concern is to revive hockey our national sport. We have been speaking to Nimbus for a year about this."

He adds that CSO is talking to companies for sponsorship.

Nimbus Sport COO Yannick Colaco added, "WSH has been very selective in identifying franchise owners who are passionate about hockey and share the common vision of creating a strong and viable ecosystem for the sport in India. We are delighted to welcome Nanwani to the WSH family. His deep rooted understanding of the local Chennai market coupled with his keen interest in hockey will definitely create a strong fan base in the catchment area."

The WSH will be held from 17 December to 22 January, 2012 and will involve 200 Indian and international players, showcasing their talent in 61 matches.

NEW DELHI: Doordarshan has been authorised to demand mandatory sharing of signals for important sports events since a law was passed in this regard in 2007, but it does not cover All India Radio.

With Team India having won two one day internationals on home ground after the humiliating tour of England, Prasar Bharati has taken umbrage to Neo Cricket refusing to sharing signals with AIR.

AIR sources, who confirmed that Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni had agreed to talk to the Board for Control of Cricket in India on this issue, said Neo Sports had been approached well in advance by AIR for sharing signals but had received a negative response.

These sources told indiantelevision.com that the Empowered Committee of Prasar Bharati dealing with this issue had then conveyed the matter to the Ministry with their resentment on the issue.

Neo Sports, which possesses the rights for broadcasting cricket played in India, had demanded that Prasar Bharati should accept a new revenue sharing model failing which it denied signals to AIR - which is the only radio channel permitted to broadcasts cricket commentary or news in India.

Sources said AIR has been paying up to $6000 per match in order to buy the broadcast rights, but Neo Sports had refused to even accept $6250. Instead, Neo Sports is demanding a 50:50 revenue sharing model.

Nimbus COO Yannick Colaco said that the Sports Broadcasting (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Act ("Sports Act") clearly states that, in the case of radio coverage for International ODIs featuring India, all advertising revenues generated from the same must be shared in the ratio of 50:50 between both parties.

"Since the inception of the Sports Act, Nimbus has repeatedly urged AIR to follow the Law as required by the same in broadcasting radio commentary of International cricket events. However ,AIR has steadfastly refused to share revenues and instead offered meagre amounts as license fees, many times amounting to less than 10 per cent of total revenues generated."

He added that it is a matter of record that AIR made revenues of Rs 12 million for India versus New Zealand series last year and paid Nimbus a license fee of approximately Rs 1.9 million.

"It is, thus, very obvious that AIR has routinely manipulated its position to ensure that AIR makes enormous profits by not abiding by the Sports Act and by offering meagre amounts in the form of License Fees."

Giving more figures, Colaco said that in the England Tour of Indian 2008 it is understood that AIR made revenues of Rs 21 million ($470,000 ). Despite this revenue potential, AIR has offered Nimbus a license fee of $36,000 i.e. approximately Rs 1.7 million for the current England tour.
Meanwhile, the Prasar Bharati and the Ministry are writing to BCCI asking it to take up the issue with Neo Sports and also to ensure that in future it does not sell the frequency to such companies which themselves do not have the broadcasting facilities and are not ready to share feed with AIR.

Relations between Neo Sports and Prasar Bharati are not too good, with the live telecast of the second ODI on Doordarshan having started late, with both sides blaming the other for the last minute permission under the Sports Broadcast Signal (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Act 2007.

At present, the revenue split under the Act is 75:25 in favour of Neo, although the Empowered Committee has already demanded that this should be raised to 50:50 so that DD can earn more.

The provision under the Act says that any rights holder to "sporting events of national importance" (India?s international ODIs fall in that ambit) have to share the television feed with DD, and there is no reference to AIR in the Act.