Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh (India PRwire) – Sahara India Pariwar, the sponsor of the Indian Hockey Team, have announced on Sunday the reward of Rs. 2 lakh each to all players, the national coach and the assistant coach of the team for the superb show against Pakistan. The support staff is also being rewarded.

“Sahara India Pariwar Chairman, Subrata Roy had promised to the team during the Good Luck Dinner hosted by Sahara India Pariwar on February 18th, that if the Indian team came up with a good performance in the World Cup, he will reward the players” said Abhijit Sarkar, Head – Corporate Communications, Sahara India Pariwar.

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New Delhi (PTI)- Drinks brand Coca-Cola India and sports apparel company Reebok have signed up sponsorship deals with the Hero Honda FIH Hockey World Cup, to be held here from February 28-March 13.

Coca-Cola India will be the ‘Official Beverage Partner’, while Reebok the ‘Official Apparel Partner’ of the prestigious 12-nation hockey tournament, a release said today.

“Coca-Cola India has always believed in promoting a healthy, active lifestyle through sports and has had a long term association with various sports globally. We are very proud to announce our association with the hockey World Cup.

“Hockey enthusiasts across India would get a chance to share their passion for the game of hockey. We look forward to some power-packed hockey action in March this year,” said Atul Singh, President and CEO of Coca-Cola India.

KUALA LUMPUR – Total Sports Asia (TSA), has entered into a partnership with the Euro Hockey League (EHL), to provide a new viewing platform for hockey fans in Asia through its sports broadband channel Total Sports TV

The exciting new collaboration will see Total Sports TV offering highlights of the remainder of the EHL season 2009/2010 matches also with an option for fans in Asia to view the matches live

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MUMBAI – The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati yesterday announced a financial assistance of $1 million (Rs.5 crore) for the national hockey players and also offered to sponsor the team for the next two years.

“The state government is also ready to sponsor the hockey team for the next two years with an objective of supporting the team and its players,” Mayawati said in a statement here after making the announcement about the financial assistance.

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MUMBAI (PTI) -  The striking Indian players have called off it strik and will return to the camp in Pune after an assurance was given by HI and sponsor.

Sahara India the sponsor of the Indian Hockey team have decided to release Rs.1cr to the players in order to defuse the ongoing strik.

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LONDON- England Hockey unveiled its new Three Lions logo and announces a five year kit partnership with Adidas ahead of the men’s squad’s departure to Australia for the ABN AMRO Champions Trophy.

The announcement continues the journey for hockey as a national sport on its way once more to a greater world ranking and Olympic success. Core values of ‘Passion’, ‘Speed’ and ‘Respect’ underpin the evolution of the new identity while the Three Lions logo gives England a national emblem of pride – bringing hockey into line with football and cricket and other top tier national sports.

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NEW DELHI:  Sahara India Pariwar have agreed to continue its support the national hockey teams for the next two years.  The sponsorship deal is valued at $1.2 million until 2011.

As part of the sponsorship deal Sahara will sponsor both the mens and womens Indian Hockey team for the next two years. The former contract only included the men’s senior and junior teams. The new contract will also include the women’s senior and junior teams. The deal also includes kitting the teams.

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Sports Minister MS Gill on Monday expressed satisfaction at the renovation work being carried out at the National Stadium, saying state-of-the-art facilities and ultra security would be in place to make it the best hockey stadium in the world.

Gill specially praised the engineers for their good job and the pace of work at the stadium, which will host the World Cup and Commonwealth Games next year.

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Hockey Canada will insure the contracts of every player participating in next week’s Olympic orientation camp in Calgary, avoiding a possible disruption to the team’s training session ahead of the Vancouver Winter Games.

Hockey Canada did not say how much it paid for the policy to insure the 46 players’ contracts, which according to estimates are worth almost $500 million dollars.

“We have looked at the insurance issue of the men’s players coming into the orientation camp and Hockey Canada will be fully covering the players’ insurance package for this camp,” Hockey Canada’s president Bob Nicholson told reporters on a conference call on Friday.

“This includes from game one of the National Hockey League to the end of all of their contracts.

“The players won’t have questions about insurance and will be comfortable as they hit the ice for three days in Calgary.”

The issue had threatened to become a major distraction for the camp that will run from Aug 24-27.

Last month, the NHL Players Association (NHLPA) advised members taking part in national team training camps their contracts were not fully insured and recommended they avoid on-ice activities.

NHL teams are not responsible for insuring players for the Olympic or world championships.

“The NHLPA is pleased to learn today that Hockey Canada has decided to provide full insurance coverage for NHLPA members who have been invited to participate in the Canadian Olympic orientation camp next week in Calgary,” NHLPA president Paul Kelly in a statement.

“The health and well-being of our members is of paramount importance to this association, and our members would have been exposed to significant risk without the full coverage that is now being provided.”

Nicholson said an intra-squad game planned for Aug. 27 is almost sold out and he expects to make $400,000 from the contest, which will help cover the cost of the insurance policy.

“If one of our top players got hurt and wasn’t being paid for the first 30 games (of the NHL season) I know what the storylines would be in this country,” said Nicholson.

“We have created a lot of revenue out of the world juniors, world championships, World Cups because these players participated for us and …we don’t pay players for that.

“This is just giving back to them, saying thank you.”

Source: Reuters

India’s hockey federation has postponed next month’s national championships due to H1N1 flu, it said in a statement on Wednesday.

More than 25 people have died and 2,000 have been infected in India by the virus that has forced the Bollywood film industry to put off big releases and cancel shoots.

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