Hockey News -

This year PHL is starting early due to shortage of time ahead of the Olympic qualifiers ... Starting for 20th December, 2007 ... Premier Hockey League will also have fewer matches as 37 matches were played in the last league, leading to criticism from participating foreign players ... This 4th edition will have 26 matches in 22 days, including round-robin matches, semi-finals and best of 3 finals matches.

This year IHF is planning to give more exposure to youth, so 21 players from the under-19 and under-21 age groups have been included in the seven teams ... Also there will be 21 foreign players, whose names will be announced later.

Captains -
Dilip Tirkey - Orissa Steelers
Kanwalpreet Singh - Sher-e-Jalandhar
Rajpal Singh - Chandigarh Dynamos
Adam Sinclair - Chennai Veerans
Viren Rasquinha - Maratha Warriors
Tushar Khandekar - Bangalore Hi-Fliers
Sardara Singh - Hyderabad Sultans

PHL teams r announced with Indian players.

Orissa Steelers - Dilip Tirkey (c), William Xalxo, Jitendra Saroha, Prabodh Tirkey, Roshan Minz, Bruno Hadrian Lugun, Sunil Yadav, Damandeep Singh, Sunil Ekka, Birendra Lakra, Gurupeet Singh, Ignace Tirkey, Amardeep Ekka, Eliazar Lakra, Ajitesh Rai.

Sher-E-Jalandhar - Kanwalpreet Singh (c), Gurvinder Singh Chandi, Kulwinder Singh, Jarnail Singh, Davinder Singh Bath, Harpal Singh, Prabhdeep Singh, Mandeep Singh, Yodhvir Singh, Rupinder Pal Singh, Pradeep Kumar, Ranjodh Singh, Gagan Ajit Singh, Gurwinder Singh, Jugraj Singh, Sarvanjit Singh.

Chandigarh Dynamos - Rajpal Singh (c), Baljit Singh, Surinder Singh, Sandeep Singh, S S Gill, Gaurav Tokhi, Jaswinder Singh, Sanjeev Kumar, Irshaad Ali, Deepak Thakur, Inderjit Chadha, Prabhjot Singh, Ravi Pal, Sher Singh, Dharamveer Singh.

Chennai Veerans - Adam Sinclair (c), Sanawar Ali, Sreejesh PR, Isaac Muthuselvan, Sivabalan, Kumar Senthil Kumar, Innocent Kullu, Mahendra Singh, Raja V, Ashwin, Raghunath, Sommanna, Danish Mujtaba, Vikramjit Singh.

Maratha Warriors - Viren Rasquinha (c), Adrian D'Souza, Suraj Kanta, Kuldeep Singh, Gurbaj Singh, Vikram Pillay, Ajmer Singh, Girish Pimple, Tyrone Pereira, Dhananjay Mahadik, Bharat Kumar Chikara, Shivender Singh, Alden D'Souza, Hardeep Singh, Mirza.

Bangalore Hi-Fliers - Tushar Khandekar (c), Bharath Kumar Chhetri, Len Aiyappa, PT Rao, Ajay Kumar Saroha, Vinaya VS, Bimal Lakra, Arjun Halappa, Vikram Kanth, Cheeyanna, Hari Prasad, Sandeep Michael, SV Sunil, KA Nilesh, Kamarjit Singh.

Hydrabad Sultans - Sardara Singh (c), Dinesh Ekka, Samir Baxla, Jasbir Singh, Diwakar Ram, Johnson Ekka, Anand Tirkey, Nitin Kumar, Didar Singh, Pramod Kumar, Bikas Toppo, Pawal Lakra, Veer Singh, Kulbhushan, KM Chengappa.