Indian hockey team misses flight to New Delhi from Pune as team buses fail to turn up; SAI officials claim the players are to blame.
Before Jose Manuel Brasa took up the chief coach’s job for the national hockey team, he must have done his homework on India — its culture, people, work ethic, not to speak of the game’s infrastructure here.
However, nothing that he did then could have prepared him for what happened on Thursday morning.
The Indian hockey team that was to leave for New Delhi en route to London for their 25-day European tour, failed to do so since the two buses scheduled to transport them from the Balewadi Stadium here to the Pune airport didn’t even turn up!
“This will never happen in Spain,” a flabbergasted Brasa said while speaking to DNA from the Pune airport on Thursday.
The team was supposed to reach the Capital for a media briefing before boarding their flight to London later on Thursday.
While the team management blamed the Sports Authority of India and its lackadaisical attitude, SAI in turn blamed it on the players.
Coach Harendra Singh said, “we left the hostel room and were waiting at the lobby since 3.30am for the buses that were supposed to take us to the airport. SAI’s lethargic babu culture is to be blamed for this national shame. It is a huge embarrassment for the Indian hockey team. Is this the way the SAI should treat us?” Harendra fumed.
Meanwhile, SAI regional director in Pune Virendra Bhandarkar said: “The buses were on time. The players must have delayed in leaving the rooms.”
What was even more depressing for the players is that they didn’t get the chance to meet their teammate Baljit Singh who is recuperating at a Delhi hospital.
“Our plan to meet Baljit was not possible because of the delay,” Indian captain Sandeep Singh said.
After the buses failed to arrive, the team management arranged for two matadors.
But that wasn’t the end of it.
More problems were in store for them when they arrived at the airport at 5.42am for the 6.15am Kingfisher Pune-Delhi flight. Gurav Makarand, the airline official and duty manager at the airport, refused to issue the boarding tickets to the team for “arriving late”.
The 23 players and four officials were stranded at the airport till the next flight at 11.45 am.
Harendra said the official refused to budge despite repeated requests.
“I am also an employee of Air India. We do have reservations. We even told the official that the players and the officials will board the flight and the luggage could come in the next flight but the Kingfisher official turned down our suggestion,” he said.
“It was yet another step-motherly treatment for the Indian hockey team. We are facing this only because we are not cricketers,” said Sandeep.
Some of the Kingfisher staff members, however, thought the airline could have shown some leniency.
“The hockey team could have been allowed to take the flight. After all they are our national team,” said one of the employees on condition of anonymity.
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