Former Indian Hockey Captain M.M Somaya seeks more financial reward for national team
After many controversies have emerged as a result of the cash amount announced by Hockey India, a number of officials and former players came out to second the reservations of national team players that lifted the major hockey title for India after a long
time.
Former Olympian and skipper of the national side, M.M Somaya wants more financial assistance and security for players of the national team. He was of the opinion that the match fee should be increased up to one hundred thousand rupees for each player.
M.M Somaya was part of the squad that contested three Olympic Games and lifted a gold medal back in 1980 in Moscow. In his view, the hockey players should be financially strong, as they are different than the local squads. He said, “They play many internationals
in a year and they should be financially secure. India's international hockey players cannot be equated with those playing for college teams. There's a lot of pride in playing for the country. If the officials in the national federation cannot raise money,
they don't deserve to be there. If the federation has credibility, Corporate India will support hockey in a big way.”
Somaya was of the view that the line-up that clinched the title in the Asian Champions Trophy should be paid much more respect, as it will boost the morale of the youngsters. He also expressed gratification for skipper Rajpal Singh and Coach Michael Nobbs.
The Indian squad was missing the services of many international players including Tushar Khandekar, Prabjhot Singh, Shivendra Singh, Adrian D’Souza, Sandeep Singh, Arjun Halappa and Sardara Singh. However, the youngsters showed an outstanding game and proved
their worth for the team in international hockey. Apart from the impressive efforts by the team players in the unbeaten record, the struggle of Michael Nobbs could not be put at the back end in the victory.
The former skipper continued that the youngsters should have the same morale against Europeans teams in the forthcoming hockey tournaments. He stated that they have been rendering outstanding games against Asian teams but fail to show similar performances
against Australia and European hockey teams. In the concluding remarks, the former Indian hockey captain expressed satisfaction over the coach saying that Michael Nobbs could take the team at the peak if relevant bodies continue to support him.
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