The Hockey India League Returns This December.
The Hockey India League returns and it will be seen back in action, it is good news for hockey and hockey fans domestically and globally. As it is said that everyone learns from their previous mistakes, so I guess that the stakeholders of the Hockey India league must have learned from their previous doings. As we all know in the hockey World Cup 2023, India’s early exit on its home soil in front of their crowd was quite hurting, Australia coach Ric Charlesworth stated that the main reason for India’s early exit was the discontinuation of HIL. The experts stated the advantages of having a world-class league, in India which was HIL which helped the young Indian players realize that good international players are competing in the tournament and they too had ” two hands and two legs” and they were also as good players as they are. After 7 years the HIL is set to return in December, which is very good news regarding the sport. It can be said that the core for the Indian hockey team Winning 3 of the major titles in the last decade that is Junior World Cup in 2016 and the bronze model at the Tokyo and Paris Olympics was set up at HIL as we can see the Indian hockey team who won the title were a part of HIL. And if we see the players after HIL are not having good quality and guidance due to lack of domestic structure, competition and coaching methods and exposure towards tough competition. HIL can play an important role in strengthening the Indian hockey team and converting the Olympic bronze medal into a gold medal in 2028. The financial impact of HIL has a significant impact on everyone including Indian players and international stars. The International Hockey Federation has made a space for the next 10 years in their calendar that shows the importance of HIL at the international level. Previously there were 3 attempts made to start the hockey league but the plan failed due to an unclear business model and overburden of finance on the team owners. The investors of HIL should understand that they need to make a market for the long run rather than comparing themselves with the success of IPL.