Finally, monetary relief for Team India

The stand-off over the non-payment of sponsorship money between the Indian hockey team and the national federation finally came to an end with the latter presenting cheques to players at the training camp in Pune on Monday morning. The 22-member World Cup squad had refused to train till they were paid incentives for their performance in 2009.

Indian Olympic Association president Suresh Kalmadi made the presentation — adding up to Rs 1 crore — to the 22 players and support staff, including the coaches, in the presence of Hockey India officials.

Twelve players from among those rewarded are currently training at Lucknow for the South Asian Games at Dhaka. They will be presented their cheques when they come to Delhi next week.

The players were paid for their performance in the Punjab Gold Cup at Chandigarh, Azlan Shah Cup at Ipoh, Test series in Argentina, New Zealand and Canada besides the Champions Challenge tournament at Salta, Argentina, last December.

Members of the victorious Indian under-21 Asia Cup team at Hyderabad in 2008 were also rewarded.

A crisis situation had developed on January 8 when the players stopped training, forcing Hockey India to call an emergency meeting.

After failure of their talks with HI authorities, Kalmadi mediated to bring the players back on the field even as team sponsors Sahara India announced a release of Rs 1 crore for the striking campers.

Kalmadi on the day assured the players that “more funds will flow and money would not be a constraint” and urged them to focus on their World Cup campaign starting next month.

A two minute silence was also observed by the players to pay homage to departed Marxist patriarch Jyoti Basu.