Lucknow, January 14: Chief Minister Mayawati has also offered financial support for the Indian Hockey Team. The Chief Minister on Wednesday announced a financial assistance of Rs 5 crore to the Indian Hockey Team for participating in the World Cup “with zeal and without any worries”.
Team sponsor Sahara India doled out a sum of Rs 1 crore for distribution among players. Talking to The Indian Express, Secretary Sports (UP) Lalit Varma said that the “Chief Minister was very perturbed by the plight of the Indian Hockey Team, so as a goodwill gesture she decided to announce the financial assistance to the team. The money will be released from the state exchequer.”
When asked as to whether any delegation of hockey players had met her in this regard, Varma said “no delegation met her in this regard. It is a suo moto action by the chief minister.”
He said that no terms and conditions have been put down by the state government for giving the money as it is just a “goodwill gesture” to help the players in their payments.
“We are holding deliberations with the Government of India so that the cheque is addressed to such a body that the money reaches the players. The cheque will be released today and it will be sent through a special messenger,” he claimed. UP Chief Minister Mayawati said in a statement that in order to provide financial assistance to the Indian hockey team, the state government was even ready to sponsor the team for the next two years.
She claimed that it was due to the “wrong policies of the Centre, that the national hockey team was a demoralised lot just prior to the World Cup”. She said that if the wants and needs of the hockey players are not met with immediately, then keeping in mind the prestige of the nation, the UP government will give all possible help to the Indian hockey team.
Iron curtains at SAI sub-centre
Though the crises in Pune camp got resolved on Wednesday, interestingly, the Lucknow camp where training is being held for the SAF Games, an “iron curtain” policy was adopted. On Wednesday, the gates of the SAI sub-centre where the month-long camp is in progress, opened for its trainees and staff but not the media.
When enquired about the reason, director of SAI sub-centre Sanjay Saraswat said that, “ Too much of media interaction with the players disturbs the concentration of the players. We have been advised to let the players concentrate on their game for the next two or three days by the team selectors. After a couple of days you can have a talk with the players.”
Talking to The Indian Express over phone, team coach C Lobo said that he was not in a position to allow media to interact with the players as Hockey India had given such directions.
Meanwhile, sources informed that though practice did not take place in the morning session due to “inclement weather”, players did practice in the evening session. A young camper who had a brief interaction with the media in the morning is also learnt to have been chided by the team officials. The SAF Games campers are understood to be fully supportive about the payment and incentive issue raised by World Cup campers.
—-Agencies