Hindustan Times Exclusive – For these hockey players, Australia was so near yet so far

Sharad Deep

Lucknow

TILL MONDAY night, all 18 girls from the India junior women’s hockey team were excited beyond description. Many of them were supposed to board an aeroplane for the first time, as the team was bound for a tour of Australia on Tuesday But that plane ride did not materialise.

As they woke early on Tuesday to get a flight to New Delhi, from where they were scheduled to fly out, they received the news that the exposure trip — they were to play nine matches in Brisbane between October 16 and 29 — had been cancelled.

“We were curtly informed that the tour is being cancelled for unknown reasons, so all of us should pack our bags head home and come back on October 30 as the next phase of the camp will begin then,” a player told the Hindustan Times, on condition of anonymity .

Initially, the girls were given to understand that the Sports Ministry suddenly cancelled the tour on technical grounds and had not provided for anything but the bare fare for the tickets, but further investigation told us otherwise.

According to top sources, the Indian Women’s Hockey Federation approached the sports ministry for this trip at the eleventh hour, and the ministry, considering the importance of the trip, gave them clearance for it even bypassing some “mandatory clauses”.

“The IWHF was well aware about the proce- dure for financial assis- tance (it takes about 15 days to finalise) for a tour, but they didn’t ap- proach us in time,” said I Srinivas, joint secretary in the Sports Ministry.

“In fact,” he added, “The Ministry approached the IWHF about their proposed trip on its own, and didn’t take time in granting permission for the tour, but sanctioning financial as- sistance within a day or two wasn’t possible.”

IWHF general secretary Amrit Bose refused to comment. “I don’t have anything to say to you,” Bose told HT on Wednesday .

Bose was apparently upset about an earlier report the HT had carried on the problems besetting women’s hockey .

But Srinivas was clearly not pleased with the IWHF’s handling of the issue. “The government can’t be taken for granted as we even sanctioned the tour as an exceptional case. As per our norms, we pro vide airfare, boarding/lodging to the touring sides, besides managing their camps in India, so there was no question of government backtracking from its commitment.”

In all this mishandling of the tour however, the people who suffered most were the young players, denied vital exposure.

“The cancellation of the tour will have a serious impact on the players’ morale,” an official told HT, adding that they were “bitterly disappointed”. He said he could not comment publicly because it would get him into trouble. “Most girls have already left for their homes, while some are due to leave tonight.”

sportsdesk@hindustantimes.com