Players threaten dharna

NEW DELHI: Frustrated by the attitude of the World Cup organising committee, some of the 1975 World Cup-winning team members threatened to go on a dharna in New Delhi on Friday to demand the accreditations promised to them.

When repeated enquiries proved futile, a message to this effect was conveyed to the organisers who promptly invited the 1975 team members to fill in the accreditation forms on Thursday.

They will also be required to undergo police verification since Delhi Police has stipulated that barring VVIPs all occupants of the pavilion side enclosures would need to go through verification.

The 1975 team will gather on Friday for a function in the evening. “We have been invited for the function and to witness the World Cup matches but there is no word on accommodation for the outstation players. For the moment the local players would accommodate their colleagues at their homes,” said a player. Even Balbir Singh (Sr), triple gold medallist in Olympics and manager of the 1975 team, has not been promised any accommodation. He will be here on the invitation of the organising committee.

Chaos continues

Meanwhile, the organisers began distribution of media accreditation cards on Thursday amidst confusion. Contrary to what had been projected all these days about police verification procedures having delayed the approval of the cards, and thereby prevented the media from entering the National Stadium, several mediapersons who did not complete their police verification received their cards on Thursday.

Initially, there could be no security clearance for the scribes to witness the India-Netherlands practice match at pitch No. 2 at the stadium since accreditation cards mention only the ‘media area’ as accessible; not the practice pitch.

Saner counsel prevailed eventually and the police agreed to allow the media at pitch No. 2 also. — New Delhi Sports Bureau