Rajgir: Hockey India president Dilip Tirkey confirmed on Sunday that Team Gonasika, which competed in the Hockey India League last season and finished seventh, has pulled out of the tournament and will be replaced by a new team. Odisha Warriors, winners of the first edition of the Women’s HIL, will also not take part in the next edition and will be replaced by a new franchise. “We will have a mini auction, and the new teams will be able to choose their players during that time. Also, the remaining teams will release some players, and some of them will be retained, but we haven’t decided on the nitty-gritties yet,” said the former India hockey captain. He added that discussions are ongoing about whether two more teams can be added to the women’s tournament, which currently has four teams. Meanwhile, the tournament will be held in a third city in addition to Ranchi and either Bhubaneswar or Rourkela. However, it will not take place anywhere in north India. “Chandigarh and Mohali’s names came up during the discussions, and we wanted to hold HIL matches in north India. But we analysed that there is heavy fog during the winters, which could delay flights and make it difficult to hold matches on time,” said Tirkey. Tirkey also confirmed that players who hadn’t been paid by Odisha Warriors after the tournament were compensated in full from Hockey India’s prize money fund. He added that hopefully, there won’t be any such delays when the tournament is held again next year. Regarding the India men’s team, who are currently competing in the Asia Cup after losing seven successive games in the Pro League, Tirkey sounded quite relaxed. “We have not put any pressure on the coach for the past performances. He has won us a bronze medal at the Olympics and a gold at the Asian Games. So, we are confident that he will be able to take the team to a world level in a year,” said Tirkey. However, the situation was different when he spoke about the women’s team, which will begin their campaign in the Women’s Asia Cup this week in Hangzhou, China. “The women’s team coach, the support staff, and the players need to focus on working harder. It’s true that senior players have been struggling with injuries, and we don’t have as many experienced replacements, but we can only hope that they will perform well,” he added.
