It’s about equal rights, says women’s team
Manuja Veerappa
The Indian women’s hockey players’ fight for equal rights continued on Friday, even as sponsorship poured in. And the girls continued to wear black armbands during practice in Bhopal on Friday. Speaking to this newspaper, senior player Mamta Kharab said, “People need to understand our fight is not only for money. We are fighting for equality.
We have to be treated at par with our male counterparts. When they announced cash awards for the men, what stopped them from doing the same for us?” When asked about sporting the black armbands despite monetary help coming in, Kharab said it was from people who have responded to their pleas and not from Hockey India and hence they continued to practice with their protest bands.
“The money has not come from Hockey India. We are asking them to give us the money that is due to us. What has come now is in response to our plea, but what about the money HI got from Sahara? That is what we are asking for. “Before they gave the money to the men, the then HI president A.K. Mattoo said both the teams would be rewarded.
But once the men’s team were given their dues we were forgotten and they even stopped responding to our phone calls,” said Kharab. Another senior player said they were hoping to meet Indian Olympic Association president Suresh Kalamdi to put forward their grievances. “The fight is not only about getting rewards, we want equal facilities too. For instance medical facilities have to improve for us.
When players are injured we have to wait for SAI’s assistance for surgeries and other treatments. Most often this results in longer recovery periods. We want that to be looked into too,” she said. Meanwhile, Hockey India, in a statement said, “Hockey India does not differentiate between men and women. Both the teams will be paid at par. We will also upgrade the annual contracts.”
Clarifying on the Rs 50,000 that they offered to the players, Hockey India said it was only an advance and the balance would be paid after the HI elections. It also stated that the special player’s fund will also have the captains of both senior women and men’s teams. Meanwhile, sports minister M.S. Gill spoke to senior player Deepika Murty on Friday night and said Rs 1 crore given by Madhya Pradesh chief minister would be distributed in the camp shortly.
“The minister has asked us to submit a detailed report on our achievements and the money would be given to us accordingly. “We will continue to wear the black band until we get a written assurance from HI on our match fees and achievement incentives. We want to ensure that in future we don’t have to restore to protests,” said Deepika on Friday.