Barry Anderson named tournament director of HIL

New Delhi: Seasoned Barry Anderson was on Sunday appointed as the Tournament Director of the inaugural six-team franchise-based Hockey Indian League to be held across different cities of the country from January 17 next year.

Hockey India secretary general and HIL chairman Narinder Batra said the appointment of Anderson is a major step towards ensuring that the league is technically well conducted. "Together with Steve Catton`s appointment as Competitions Director, Barry`s coming on board as Tournament Director will make this a great event," he said in a statement. Anderson, a renowned and well respected Tournament Director of the European Hockey Federation, said he was delighted to be part of the first-ever HIL. "I am looking forward to working with Hockey India, world class hockey players and team officials as well as some top class umpires and technical officials to make sure that Hockey India League is well and truly a top-notch tournament," he said. "While there may be challenges, I`m confident that Hockey India will present a top-class tournament that will show the international community that India is more than capable of staging such an important event. It is one of the best events to which I`ve been appointed as a TD and am sure there will be many players and officials who feel the same," Anderson added. The 61-year-old Anderson has conducted many international events in the capacity of a TD. He has been part of three FIH Champions Trophy tournaments, including the Chennai edition in 2005, three Champions Challenge tournaments, World Cup Qualifying Tournament and was also the TD of the 2011 European Championships. PTI