Oltmans, Brasa among the eight coaches signed for WSH

Mumbai: Close on the heels of appointing Australian Dennis Meredith as Technical Director, the World Series Hockey (WSH) has signed on world`s best eight coaches to officiate in the prestigious league that gets underway from December 17.

Highly distinguished Dutch coach Roelant Oltmans leads the group of eight which includes, four former India coaches, Harendra Singh, Rajinder Singh, Vasudevan Bhaskaran, Spaniard Jose Brasa, former India captain Jude Felix, recent India assistant coach Gundeep Singh and eminent foreign coach Andrew Meredith (Germany), a media release said. The WSH will be held from December 17, 2011 to January 22, 2012 and will involve 200 leading players -- Indian and international -- who will showcase their talent in 61 matches. It will be a multi-city franchise-based League with players being allocated to the teams based on the internationally accepted and practised `draft` system. The inaugural edition of the league will comprise eight teams from Delhi, Mumbai, Chandigarh, Chennai, Punjab, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Bhopal, Pune, Ranchi and Rourkela. Some of the Indian stars who will be seen in action in WSH include Rajpal Singh, Sandeep Singh, Adrian D`Souza, Sardara Singh, Prabhjot Singh, Arjun Halappa, Diwakar Ram,\ Bharat Chetri, Dhananjay Mahadik, Shivendra Singh, Mandeep Antil, S V Sunil, Roshan Minz, William Xalxo, Prabodh Tirkey and Yuvraj Walmiki. The coaches have been selected from a list of highly talented professionals primarily based on their experience with international teams and their exposure to the sub-continent conditions. PTI