Pakistan?s Sohail Abbas is among the 17 foreigners eager to play

New Delhi: Slick marketing, television coverage, teams with catchy names, lucrative prize money and a star parade. These are some of the gimmicks being used to promote the inaugural Premier Hockey League (PHL) in the country.

The league is an open event with even foreign players allowed (upto five in each team) to be included in the five teams, and Pakistan?s Sohail Abbas, the world?s top-scorer, is one of the 17 internationals (also from South Korea and Spain) having shown interest.

Prize money is matching the National Football League, almost, with the PHL winners taking a Rs 30 lakh purse, the runners-up Rs 10 lakh. There is a tier II (where Bengal, as Bengal Tigers, figure) where Rs 4 lakh go to the winners and Rs 2.5 lakh to the runners-up.

How this money will be shared will be worked out soon.

No sponsor for the meet has yet been spotted, but the promotionals will cricketing superstar Sachin Tendulkar.

The five team league will commence on January 13, 2005. It will be held for one month and prize money is worth Rs. 71 lakhs. All this was announced today by the president of the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) K.P.S. Gill. This is being possible through the television company which has taken up the responsibility of broadcasting these matches. Promise is that this event will be broadcast at least for the next ten years, ?for popularising the sport,? as it was declared at a pres meet here Wednedsay.

The matches too, will be unique, television-friendly. They will be played in Hyderabad, at the Gacchbowli stadium, only on weekends, and will be of four quarters of 17minutes and 30 seconds each. Time-outs, like in basketball, will also be introduced. Winners within stipulated time get three points, but winners in extra time will share points 2:1.

They promo ad will see Sachin testing his skills with Indian hockey stars like skipper Dilip Tirkey, Gagan Ajit Singh, Viren Rasquinha, Ignace Tirkey and Arjun Hallapa.

The five tier I teams are Sher-e-Jalandhar (captain Gagan Ajit), Mumbai based Maratha Warrirors (captain Viren Rasquinha), Chennai Veerans (captain Ignace), Hyderabad Sultans (captain Dilip Tirkey) and Bangalore High-Flyers (captain Halappa).

In tier II, Bengal Tigers will have Delhi Dazzlers, Lucknow Nawabs, Imphal Rangers and Chandigarh Dynamos for company.

Each of the ten teams will have to rope in individual team sponsor. The IHF is seeking the help of their marketing agents, Leisure Sports Managment (LSM) to get corporate support for the participating teams.