New Delhi: The Indian Hockey Federation (IHF)’s ambitious plan to organise World Series Hockey (WSH) league backfired when the international hockey federation (FIH) said players participating in it would be banned from international competitions.

The million-dollar prize money tournament was launched by IHF in December last year and was expected to be a high profile league involving top stars from across the world.

While Indian internationals like Sandeep Singh, Sardara Singh, Adrian D’Souza, Dhananjay Mahadik and Gurjinder Singh had already signed on the dotted lines, organisers claimed leading Australian and Pakistani players were also in touch with them.

An unimpressed FIH, however, made it clear that WSH was not a recognised tournament and said that players participating in it would be banned from international tournaments, including Olympics.

“FIH notes that matches in the WSH may conflict with FIH major events, which may compromise an athlete’s participation in their national team programme,” FIH said.

“Any player and any NA (national association) that participates in the WSH may render that player and NA ineligible to participate in any FIH tournament, including Olympic qualifying tournaments and the Olympic Games,” the statement added. FIH also said that it was planning its own league that will carry the endorsement of the FIH and HI and would make a further announcement after the meeting of the executive board to be held in the first week of March.

The FIH stand could be seen as a major victory for Hockey India (HI), who are recognised by the international body but is still fighting a legal battle to gain control over running the game in the domestic circuit.