MUMBAI: In what could be a setback to Nimbus? World Series Hockey (WSH) initiative, six top Indian players have withdrawn from the league which starts on 17 December.

A letter issued by Hockey India bears the signature of all the six players. They are goalkeepers Bharat Chetri and PR Sreejesh, drag flicker Sandeep Singh, defender Sardar Singh, and forwards Tushar Khandker and Yuvraj Walmiki.

WSH takes place at the same time as the national camp for the Olympic qualifiers.

The letter reads, "We are not playing in the World Series Hockey event and we will be attending the national camp in Delhi for the Olympic qualifiers on 11 December, 2011 until February 2012. We will be available for selection in the national team for the Olympic qualifiers.

"We signed the contract with World Series Hockey under the impression that WSH will not force us to play and ask us to leave for the national camp. We play for our country and that is a matter of honour and pride for us."

The players have requested the WSH organisers to postpone the event.

"We appeal to World Series Hockey to postpone their tournament after the qualifiers in the national interest".

However, Nimbus Sport COO Yannick Colaco has said that the players have not sent any communication to the agency regarding this decision. "We find it extremely odd that players would have chosen to ?write? to a third party to withdraw from World Series Hockey, especially since this third party has nothing to do with this historic event. We thus are unable to judge whether this supposed letter is a fabrication or an extortion.

"What we do know for a fact is that not a single WSH player has communicated in person or email to us regarding their non availability for the inaugural edition of World Series Hockey. In fact, we have had repeated confirmation from all our players that they are extremely excited to be a part of this event which will finally give the sport of hockey its proper due. In addition, WSH players have been in constant touch with their franchise coaches even during the draft process (28 November)."

"We look forward to working closely with the all the stakeholders of Indian hockey, including the players, franchisees, coaches and fans, to staging a hugely successful inaugural edition of World Series Hockey," Colaco said.