World Series Hockey teams strengthen squads at 2nd players draft

MUMBAI: The scheduled second round of the player draft for World Series Hockey was held yesterday, with each team strengthening their squads from the pool of players.

In this draft, players from Australia, Argentina, Canada, Germany, Malaysia, South Africa and India were picked by the various franchises.

Among the notable picks of the day, Canadian captain Ken Pereira was chosen by Pune Strykers while Australian Mark Harris and Indian Hamza Mujtaba got selected by Chennai Cheetahs. South African Olympian Clyde Abraham was picked by Mumbai Marines while Gagan Ajit Singh, the ace Indian striker, will make his comeback into hockey with Sher-e-Punjab.

The first season of WSH starts on the 29 February.

WSH event director Preeti Pariat Mehta said, "All the 8 franchises have teams to last an entire season with tough competition for spots in the starting XI. This will ensure that the quality of hockey in the first edition will remain top-notch from start to finish and is fantastic news for the league and our fans."