Goof-up leaves Indian hockey team stranded

Michael Joseph & Biswajyoti Brahma, TNN

PUNENEW DELHI: The Indian hockey team members went through a harrowing time on Thursday as they were left stranded at the Pune airport for over
Harendra Singh
six hours following a transport goof-up by the officials.

The team had asked the Sports Authority of India (SAI), Pune for two buses to take them to the airport for the 6.15 am flight to Delhi. Instead, they were provided with two mini-buses which arrived very late, resulting in the team missing the flight.

The players, who were to be present at a media briefing at 1pm in Delhi, finally reached the team hotel at 4pm, hungry and tired.

“We had told SAI assistant director Virendra Bhandarkar to send two buses at 4am. However, two mini-buses arrived after 5am. These buses were cramped as the players and 62 pieces of baggage had to be accommodated,” national coach Harendra Singh told TOI.

The team somehow reached the airport but more shock was in store: they were not allowed to board the Pune-Delhi Kingfisher flight. While the airline apparently denied the team boarding permission because they had arrived late, the team members say they arrived half-an-hour before the departure time.

The team finally left by a Jet Airways flight at around noon and reached Delhi at 3pm. The players immediately rushed to the hotel for the Hockey India logo unveiling ceremony. They spent a few hours there before going to the airport to catch the flight to Amsterdam. The Indians will play 12 ‘Test’ matches in Holland, Spain, Belgium and England from July 24 to August 15.

“We suffered a lot,” team’s chief coach Jose Brasa told reporters in Delhi. “But we are teaching the players to learn to overcome obstacles,” he added with a smile. A visibly-upset Harendra said the airline could easily have cleared the team for the flight. “We even told the airline to let us board the plane and that our baggage could come by the next flight. However, they rejected our pleas,” he said. Kingfisher authorities refused to comment.

Meanwhile, Bhandarkar claimed that he had sent the buses to the Balewadi complex at 4.35 am. He further said that it was not SAI’s job to provide transport to the players to go to the airport. “That is the job of the state government,” he claimed.

However, Sanjay Sabnis, assistant sports director of the state government, told TOI that it was very much SAI’s job to provide the transport. He said he got a call around 5 am that the players were still waiting for transport. “I arranged for the two mini-buses that finally transported the players,” he claimed.

Junior hockey coach Clarence Lobo said that he too had personally told Bhandarkar to provide buses at 4 am at the sports complex. Hockey India president AK Mattoo took strong exception to the incident and said he would take up the matter with SAI authorities. “You can’t treat the national team like this,” he said.