HI does U-turn, revert to Sahara jerseys

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The Asian Age:

New Delhi

July 26: A day after Sahara India moved court over the sponsorship issue, Hockey India officials on Sunday dispatched the original Sahara jerseys to Birmingham, where the national team will take on England in their first match on Monday.

Caught in a Catch-22 situation after the Kolkata high court upheld the ruling in Sahara India’s favour, the hockey body wasn’t left with much of a choice.

A source close to the national team told this paper from Birmingham, “We got an urgent call from Hockey India officials on Saturday. The players were asked to hand over their jerseys immediately, and we pasted the ‘Sahara’ logo on their playing and training kit.”

On a 25-day European tour, the India team were handed new Adidas kits before their departure that bore the words ‘Hockey India’. “Adidas has been replaced by Sahara now as per the orders,” the source added.

Official sponsors of the national team since 2003, Sahara India filed a petition after Hockey India president A.K. Mattoo announced that Sahara were no longer the team sponsors at a press meet a few days back. Said Mattoo here on Sunday, “The matter is subjudice and I cannot say much. We will naturally follow the court orders.”

On Sunday, the Indian squad played their first practice match against a local side in Birmingham. “It would have been contempt of court had the team played without the original kit, putting Hockey India into deep trouble. So we used the makeshift jerseys for the day. A parcel has been dispatched from New Delhi and the players should get their kits before the match tomorrow,” the source said.

Not long ago, the Indian team had played wearing shirts with the ‘TK’ logo during the four-nation Punjab Gold Cup in Chandigarh, until a court order forced the Indian Olympic Association’s ad-hoc committee to mask it.

Sahara India had signed an eight-year contract with the K.P.S. Gill-headed Indian Hockey Federation, but the deal ran into rough weather after the dissolution of the IHF in May last year. The new ad-hoc committee, on their part, asked for some changes in the clauses and with no money coming in, decided to do away with the logos.

Sahara India, on the other hand, maintained that they have been willing to pay the dues but haven’t found any takers.