PHL Cup 

The Premier Hockey League is a new national hockey competition launched in the country to cheer up the sport of hockey. With cricket overtaking the spectator interest of late, this league was brought about in order to restore importance of our national game. India has won eight Olympic Gold medals and has achieved the World Cup once. 

The league is a joint undertaking by the ESPN Star Sports and the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) and comprises two groups each made up of 5 teams. 
The Premier Division Teams are Hyderabad Sultans, Sher-e Jallandhar, Maratha Warriors, Bangalore Lions, Chandigarh Dynamos, Chennai Veerans and Orissa Steelers.

The First Division Teams are Orissa Steelers, Chennai Veerans, Delhi Dazzlers, Imphal Rangers, and Lucknow Nawabs. 

The league has a novice format with shorter games and a hymn for the team plus it is television friendly. Unlike the normal hockey games that have number of sessions with 2 sessions of 35 minutes each, the PHL has four sessions of 17.5 minutes each. This deliberate format is to have more advertising scope in order to generate funds. The matches were first played in 2005 at Hyderabad. 

The third PHL cup is scheduled for January 2007 in Chennai and Chandigarh with a twist this time of having a one-on-one rule to add more excitement to the watchers as well as the spectators inside the stadium. It is also said to give equal chance to the striker and the goal-keeper. If the match ends without a result even after the two extra time periods, the winners would be decided through a penalty shootout competition.

The captains for all the participating teams are announced:

Deepak Tirkey (Orissa Steelers)
Arjun Halappa (Bangalore lions)
Devesh Chauhan (Hyderabad Sultans)
Kanwalpreet Singh (Sher-e-Jalandhar)
Viren Rasquinha (Maratha Warriors)
Adam Sinclair (Chennai Veerans) 
Rajpal Singh (Chandigarh Dynamos)
For any further information about these
http://www.premierhockeyleague.com/phl