Hockey crisis over without paper and ink

PUNE: With the nation responding favourably and the players willing to strike compromise, the hockey crisis that taunted hockey for the last five days, is seemingly over.

IOA President Suresh Kalmadi announced in Pune that he will disburse the donation given by Sahara India (Rs. 1 Cr.), within a week, and veteran Dhanraj Pillay will be the man responsible to see this is happening in the given time frame.

He also announced forming of a Players’ Welfare Development Fund.

Another committee consisting of Zafar Iqbal, Ajit Pal Singh, MP Ganesh and Dhanraj Pillay will be formed which will receive all other donations that had also been announced, and this committee will manage he fund. Hockey India president and an IOA representative will also be member of this committee.

It was assured to the players that their other grievances of gradational system will be settled before the World Cup and the gradation will be formalized by the players themselves.

However, one has to wait and see how effectively the issues will be solved in the short and long term perspective, as none of the assurances have been backed in writing.