Not so good news from past sponsors of hockey
Recently, a Member of Parliament, sprayed of all the things Pepper Gas in, of all places, inside Indian parliament. He did so while protesting against separation of his State into two, last Friday. The act, unprecedented in the world’s biggest democracy, came in for condemnation from one and all.
What has hockey to do with it?
The MP in question is one L. Ragagopal, who is owner of Lanco International, an Andhra based mining company that sponsored the first ever Hockey 9s in Perth, Australia.
This company brought in professionally by Delhi based Commune, sponsored the first edition in 2011, though the Hockey 9s was held again without Lanco on title this year.
Its not first time some hockey sponsors and their companies turned out to be in public domain for all wrong reasons.
Kuber, a chit fun based business chain, broke and its chairman, Praduman Sharma, was arrested in the mid 2000s. Kuber sponsored when India hosted its first Champions Trophy.
Sahara, sponsor of all age group men and women national teams, is also prominent in the courts and business news section of media nowadays.
Stock Exchange Board of India has won many legal battles against Sahara on various counts, and the latest is Sahara Company’s founder and Supreme Subrato Roy has been barred from leaving country. Sahara has been fighting against this in court.
Besides national team sponsors, Sahara also has Hockey India League Franchise, Uttar Pradesh Wizards, which has entered the semifinal second year in succession.