The Hockey India League, scheduled to start on January 5 next, has been deferred to January 17.
According to a release on Monday, the HIL would now be held from January 17 to February 17. The rescheduling of the inaugural HIL was necessitated after the players’ auction, originally slated for December 1, was postponed to December 16.
HIL chairman Narinder Batra said some of the coaches hired by certain franchises would be busy with the Champions Trophy around the time of the auction. “The governing council decided that it would be in the best interests of all concerned to defer the auction so that all teams could have the best minds available to them at this important stage of team formation.”
“We are grateful to the International Hockey Federation for accepting our request to reschedule the HIL,” said Batra.
