CIL earmarks Rs 14 crore to sponsor Hockey League

KOLKATA: The Board of mining behemoth Coal India Limited has allocated Rs 14.73 crore for the title sponsorship of the fourth edition of " Hockey India League" for the 2016 season.

"The amount includes the sponsorship fee of Rs 13 crore as well as cash awards to Coal India Best Goal of the Match in each of the matches and Coal India Most Valuable Player of Season and other expenses," CIL Director (HR) R Mohan Das said.

A Memorandum of Understanding was signed today between Coal India and Hockey League in the city.

"Hockey always enjoyed popularity in the country and we were once at the pinnacle of this game globally. Basically, our intent is to encourage sports, especially hockey," CIL Chairman Sutirtha Bhattacharya said.

Christened 'Coal India-Hockey India League', the tournament would commence on January 18, 2016 and the final will be played on February 21, 2016.

A total of 34 matches are scheduled to be played across six cities of the country that involves six franchise teams.

The tournament has sanction of FIH, the international body that governs hockey across the globe.

CIL had bagged Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar in 2015.