CET unsettles PU hockey teams’ departure

Bangalore: Thursday was a harrowing day for the state pre-university men and women hockey teams, which were supposed to leave for the All-India Pre-University Hockeychampionships to be held at Sonipat, Haryana, from May 24 to May 29.

The team was scheduled to board the 1.30 pm Sampark Kranti Express and the boys team reported to the PU Board at 10.30 am on Thursday. But, to their shock, they were informed that the Karnataka team would not participate in the national championship, a decision reportedly taken at the behest of Shankar Narayan, the PU Board director.

DNA learnt that parents of two players met the director and asked Narayan to cancel the trip as their children had CET counselling to attend, which were on the same dates as the nationals. “Some parents met the director and requested him to cancel the trip because their children had CET counselling on those dates. But we had sent a circular to all the colleges,” said Gangappa SR, section officer for sports.

Efforts to reach the PU board director were unsuccessful.
However, the team members said they had no clue about the cancellation nor were their colleges informed about it. “None of us was aware that our team was not going for the nationals,” Rahul M Katke, a team member, said.“We were informed about the decision only when we reported at the PU Board four hours before the scheduled departure,” he said.

After hours of protest by the players and the intervention of sports minister Goolihatti Shekar, who reportedly spoke to Narayan from Sirsi, the Karnataka teams’ participation was cleared by the board.

But that’s no mercy for the players. The team will now travel in a general compartment of the Nizamuddin Express to Delhi on Friday and take a connecting train or bus to Sonipat, which also does not have reservations.

What’s worse is that they have no idea about who the team’s manager or a coach is. The department was looking for a team manager late on Thursday night.

“Since it is the holiday season, most physical education teachers are not available,” Gangappa said. “But we will definitely send a team manager and a coach with both the boys