MUMBAI: Hockey India, which is creating a rival league against the one that Neo Sports is in control of, has signed up 28 Indian national players for its nascent hockey league as it gears for the January 2013 launch date.

Among those who have signed contracts with HI include Shivendra Singh, Tushar Khandker, and Yuvraj Walmiki.

?The league will help India unearth new talent as the Indian youngsters will be playing alongside top international stalwarts,? HI secretary general Narendra Batra said in a statement.

Batra also informed that more than 200 Indian and international players are expected to sign up for the league, which will be held in partnership with International Hockey Federation.

?Till now 28 Indian players have made themselves available for the league. In total around 140 to 150 Indian players and 80 to 100 foreign players will sign up,? Batra added.

HI is currently engaged in a bitter tussle with World Series Hockey promoters Indian Hockey Federation and Nimbus Sport, the sports marketing arm of Nimbus Communications, which owns and operates Neo Sports and Neo Prime channels, through its subsidiary Neo Sports Broadcast.

The inaugural season of the Hockey India League will consist of six franchise-based teams in six cities across India. Each team will have 24 players including 10 foreign and 14 Indians.

?These players will be then put up for auction in September. Since it is a six team league, so in total 144 will represent six franchises,? Batra added.

The first edition of the mega-league will be played in January-February 2013 involving 33 matches.

"There will be a live telecast of all 33 league matches on a leading international sports channel," said FIH.

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 World Series Hockey (WSH) initiative, six top Indian players have withdrawn from the league which starts on 17 December.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.