11 tribal girls thrown out of SAI centre
AHMEDABAD: Hockey is our national sport but hockey players have never been regarded as national property. After allegations of sexual harassment against the coach of the Indian women’s hockey team, another case of ill-treatment of players has come to light.
The coach at the SAI Centre at Gandhinagar, Ila Sharma has come under scrutiny after 11 tribal girl trainees from Chota Udepur were put out of the hostel without any reason. And the centre didn’t even inform the school, from where these girls were picked, about their ouster.
“Throwing out these girls without any intimation and without giving any valid reason is just criminal,” said Sailesh Darji, coach of the girls when they studied at the Don Bosco School in Chota Udepur. “They are tribal girls who don’t know anything except hockey. It was a miracle that they reached home safe,” said Darji.
“Sharma had herself come to take these girls to the centre. The parents were unwilling to send their daughters to a far-away place, so Sharma took all the parents and their daughters to Gandhinagar where SAI hosted them for a week so that the parents would be convinced. But I always had my doubts. What I feared then, came true now.”
“The girls went to take part in a tournament in Vadodara without Sharma’s permission. That looks like a likely reason,” said a source. But Champa, one of the players, said: “But we took her permission. We have the letter which she signed.”
Both Sharma and assistant coach M Thakur couldn’t be traced despite repeated attempts. But SAI Gandhinagar director Shyam Sunder said that the girls were asked to leave due to ‘non-performance.’ However records available with TOI show that these girls participates in various national-level competitions during their four-year stay in the centres and performed commendably.