World Series Hockey organisers postponed the start of the inaugural event until February 2012 after Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) president RK Shetty accused national governing body Hockey India of using “intimidation tactics.” The series is jointly owned by Nimbus Sport, a broadcast subsidiary of the Nimbus Communications agency, and the IHF – an organisation that is not recognised by the sport’s official world governing body, the International Hockey Federation (FIH).
The event had been scheduled to start on December 15. However, Hockey India, which is recognised by the FIH, rescheduled its national training camps for next year’s Olympic qualifiers from January 24 to December 11. Owing to the clash of dates and the series organisers’ desire to attract the sport’s top players, the tournament will now take place from February 29 to April 1.
Nimbus Sport chief operating officer Yannick Colaco said the broadcaster had held discussions with sponsors, franchises, team officials and match officials before deciding to reschedule, and confirmed “the unanimous support of all our stakeholders.” Nimbus has earmarked a marketing budget of Rs400m (€5.7m/$7.5m) for the inaugural eight-team series, according to the Business Standard.