Coming soon: Women's PHL

New Delhi, Mar 13 (UNI) Women players will have a Premier Hockey League (PHL) of their own and the modalities to organise the tournament are being worked out before a formal announcement follows after the Commonwealth Games.

Announcing this here today, Indian Women Hockey Federation (IWHF) General Secretary Amrit Bose told reporters, ''Talks are on with a party and things are being worked out. An announcement in this regard will be made after the Commonwealth Games.'' Refusing to divulge the name of the society which has expressed the willingness to sponsor the event, Ms Bose said, ''Sometimes revealing the name upsets the party and they might withdraw.'' Women players have recently raised demands for a PHL of their own after the first two editions of the men's version met with considerabe success.

Ms Bose said she wants more sponsors to come forward and support the league which would have foreign players as well. But all these aspects were under discussion and will be finalised soon.

IWHF President Vidya Stokes will sound out prospective sponsors after she returns from Commonwealth Games in Australia on Saturday and the announcement on the organisation of the event will be made soon after.

''We will announce this with all the fanfare very soon,'' Ms Stokes said.

Meanwhile, the IWHF has also started talks on an exchange programme with its Italian counterpart under which players fom both sides will participate in the domestic league of two countries.

''We will be sending our girls to play in their domestic league and certainly players from that side will also come here. We are working it out,'' Ms Bose said.

In addition to this, IWHF also plans to set up a hockey academy here and has already sent a proposal to the Centre.

''We will provide best of the facilitiies to the players in this academy and it will come up very soon,'' Ms Stokes said.

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