Thaindian News

New Delhi, Sep 14 (IANS) Sports Minister Ajay Maken Wednesday announced Rs.1.5 lakh to each member of the Indian hockey team after they rejected a paltry Rs.25,000 reward from cash-strapped Hockey India (HI) for winning the inaugural Asian Champions Trophy in China.

Maken justified the players’ decision to dump the HI cash offer, and chided the hockey body for handing out a pittance to the players returning home after beating Pakistan 4-2 in the final.

Maken told a hurriedly called press conference: “The players have done the right thing. The federation should have consulted me before announcing the award. The players are eligible for Rs.1.5 lakh each under the government scheme.”

Asked why didn’t say this when he felicitated the team, he said: “The scheme was in public domain, and I thought it was not required to make it public again.”

The minister added: “I spoke to HI secretary general Narendra Batra and told him that if he wanted to reward the players, we could have done it together so that the players would have got Rs.1.75 lakh each.”

Maken said the support staff and the coach would get Rs.75,000 each.

He added that the players were suffering because of problems between HI and the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF).

The players’ fury over the 25,000-rupee reward led to more cash awards — and condemnation from current and former players.

The Punjab government announced Rs.25 lakh for the team. The Maharashtra government promised Rs.10 lakh in cash and a job to Yuvraj Walmiki, a key player from that state.

Skipper Rajpal Singh did not hide his disgust.

He said hockey would not attract youngsters if players were not rewarded adequately. Rejecting the HI reward, he said his team was disappointed by the “hollow claims” of Maken of reviving the sport.

“This is not the way to treat national players,” Rajpal said. “Our self-respect was wounded. It (25,000 rupees) was far below our expectations. It is not acceptable.”

Another senior player, Gurbaz Singh, said players rejected the cash award because it was “a pittance”.

“It is a very small reward considering our achievement,” he said.

“We did not expect such a small amount as hockey is our national game. If such things continue, there will be a day when there will be very few youngsters interested in playing hockey. They would rather opt for cricket or any other individual sport,” he said.

“This is an insult to Indian hockey,” fumed Ranjan Negi, a former coach.

HI’s Batra said the federation could afford only Rs.25,000.

“We have spent Rs.7.81 crore on the preparation of the team for various events. Of this, Rs.5.97 crore was spent on coaching camps, Rs.1.75 crore on foreign exposure and Rs.8.5 lakh on foreign experts.

“We are also paying $10,000 as salary to coach (Michael Nobbs).” But Batra admitted that the reward amount was paltry.

“It is unfortunate we can only give this much. It should be taken as a blessing rather than be looked down upon. The federation cannot give more than this.”

Batra said he will talk to the players.

“I would love to get them a crore each but keeping the current financial situation (of HI) it is not possible. I will be talking to the entire team on the issue. I am sure they will understand.”