HIL has made hockey financially lucrative: HI chief Dilip Tirkey
Hockey India (HI) president Dilip Tirkey recently claimed that the Hockey India League (HIL) has managed to make the game 'financially lucrative' in the country. He added that the situation would further improve in the time to come.
Tirkey is confident that the return of the revamped HIL will play a crucial role in reviving the game in India. In an exclusive chat with Sportskeeda, he said:
"The biggest thing that the HIL has done is that it has made hockey much more financially lucrative. At present, the youth in many states get government jobs if they manage to play at the state level. But the HIL will take the financial stability of hockey players to a higher level."
The HIL auction earlier this week witnessed money being thrown around on a scale seldom seen before in Indian hockey.
A total of 54 players - including 18 foreign stars - went under the hammer, with India captain Harmanpreet Singh emerging as the most expensive buy at a whopping Rs 78 lakh.
Apart from the financial aspect, Dilip Tirkey also hopes that the revamped HIL goes a long way in boosting the popularity of hockey in the country, especially since it comes on the back of the second consecutive Olympic medal at the Paris Games 2024.
"Right now, I am in Delhi, which was a hotspot for hockey around 30 years ago. But today, there is a need to lure the crowds back to the stadium. Something like the HIL is urgently needed," the former India captain added.
"Need to play regularly against top teams" - Hockey India (HI) president Dilip Tirkey
Amid India taking on Germany in a series of international friendlies in the national capital, the HI chief emphasized the need for India to regularly face top teams in order to improve.
"We need to play regularly against top teams like Germany in order to improve ourselves. At the Paris Olympics, we had wasted several chances during the semifinal against Germany. Playing regularly against top teams is the only way ensure that we don't keep making those silly mistakes in high pressure situations," he said in the same interview.