Women players raise their demands

New Delhi: Barely a week after the strike by the men’s team was resolved, another revolt is brewing in Indian hockey with the women’s team on Thursday rejecting the incentives promised to them and demanding a treatment similar to one offered to the men.

Hockey India decided to immediately pay Rs 50,000 to each player in the ongoing National camp in Bhopal after the players resorted to a silent protest against non-payment of their dues by wearing black armbands during the training session. But captain Mamta Kharab said the players were not happy with the “step-motherly” treatment meted out to them by the national federation as their pending dues amount to more than Rs three lakh per player.

Kharab also said her colleagues wanted a gradation system just like the one promised to the men’s team in order to secure the future of the women players, who come from a relatively poor background.

HI interim president Vidya Stokes earlier in the day told reporters that apart from the Rs. 50,000 the HI had requested the government to give each player Rs one lakh for their silver medal-winning performance in last year’s Asia Cup in Bangkok. — PTI