ING Vysya Life to sponsor Bangalore Lions Hockey

Televisionpoint.com Team
ING Vysya Life, the insurance arm of the private sector ING Vysya Bank, has chosen to patronise hockey, expecting it to take it closer to the Indian customers. ING Vysya Life has signed an agreement to sponsor the Bangalore team in the Premier Hockey League (PHL), played on a new set of rules allowing even foreign players' participation.

ING will sponsor the local team from next year when the second edition of PHL will be held in Chandigarh. It has also offered an insurance cover of Rs 5 lakh each to all the participating Indian players as part of the sponsorship agreement. PHL is a brainchild of Indian Hockey Federation, ESPN Star Sports and Leisure Sports Management. They have also been given the responsibility of marketing and broadcasting the event for ten years.

R.C. Venkatesh, Managing Director of ESPN Software Indian Ltd, said, "PHL was sampled by an impressive 19.6 million individuals in its first year. Innovations introduced in the game were appreciated by the hockey fraternity in India and worldwide Thanks to PHL's success in the first year, we have experienced greater readiness amongst foreign players to participate in PHL 2006. 11 foreign players have already confirmed and more will be announced in the very near future. We will continue to innovate to ensure that PHL becomes the most important hockey league in the world."

According to R.K Shetty, President, Karnataka State Hockey Association the sponsorship should help in improving the popularity of hockey while inspiring the players to improve their standards.

Frank Koster, MD and CEO, ING Vysya Life said, "The objective of the association is to develop and promote hockey in India. We have made a start with Bangalore Lions. Bangalore Lions, prior to being sponsored by ING Vysya was known as Bangalore Hi-Fliers."