CHENNAI: The stage is set for the Chennai leg of the World Series Hockey. Chennai Sports Organisers Pvt Ltd, the owners of the Chennai Cheetahs team, announced the 27-member team at a function in the city on Friday. Team owner LT Nanwani unveiled the team logo. Coach Jose Brasa and captain Brent Livermore and Nanwani also unveiled the team jersey.
Cheetahs will play seven away games and seven home matches. The home matches will be played at the Mayor Radhakrishnan stadium.
The Chennai Cheetahs tag line ‘Dil Irunda Modi Par’ is catchy and aimed at attracting the youth. The team composition, style of functioning, format is all similar to that of the IPL. Nanwani said he chose Chennai franchise keeping in mind the city’s sporting culture and passion for sports. Nanwani admitted that problems regarding participation did exist as far as players who are with the Indian team or employed with the nationalised banks, but was confident that the matter will be resolved.
WSH will be held from Feb 29 to April 2 and will involve 200 leading players — Indian and international — who will showcase their talent in 59 matches. The eight venues for the league are: Bangalore, Bhopal, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi, Jalandhar, Mumbai and Pune. Cheetahs begin their campaign against Sher-E-Punjab at Jalandhar on March 1. The Chennai leg first match will take place on March 6 against Mumbai Marines.
Brasa was confident of a good show by his team. He believed they had the right mix of experience and youth. “This championship has the scope to develop into something big. I am happy with the composition of the Chennai team and we have had the opportunity to have a few training sessions already. The IHF has given players an unbelievable opportunity to pit their skills with the world’s best. It promises to be an exciting championship,” said Brasa. Livermore, an Olympian and a veteran of several battles, was happy to be associated with the Chennai side. He said his team had the right combination and was confident of a good show. Tickets for the event will be available at the ground and at www.bookmyshow.com.
Team: Goalkeepers: Bharat Chetri, Chintakunta Santosh Kumar, Jasbir Singh. Defenders: Amit Prabhakar, Dhananjay Mahadik, Gauravjeet Singh, Samir Baxla,Syed Imran Warsi. Midfielders: Amardeep Ekka, Brent Livermore (Captain), Devendar Pal Singh, Gaurav Tokhi, Joseph Reardon, Rafeeq S M , Vikas Sharma, Vikram Pillay. Forwards: Adam Sinclair, Benedikt Sperling, Danish Mujtaba, Dharamvir Singh, Hamza Mujtaba, Muthanna B K, Peter Kelly, Parveen Kumar, Roderik Huber, S Arumugam, Sandeep Antil, Veerasamy Raja. Coach: Jose Brasa.