Pakistan Hockey Federation secretary Rana Mujahid is "frustrated" that the national sport is struggling to lure sponsors due to lack of international success in recent years and felt the scene was much better in India.
"We are very disappointed at the way the Azlan Shah Cup organisers have dropped us from the tournament and included England in our place," PHF secretary Shahbaz Ahmad said on Thursday.
A pall of gloom shrouded the Pakistan hockey community after the national team failed to qualify for the Olympics.
In an encouraging development for the Indian women's hockey team, all the squad members are set to be included in the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) when the review committee will identify a core group for the government-funded programme, next month.
Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan said the Indian hockey team has asked him to spearhead a fund-raising concert to be held in Chandigarh. The disgruntled national hockey players had gone on strike in Pune last month protesting non-payment of their dues and incentives.
The Indian Govt. has relegated hockey from priority to general sport because of a string of poor performances of the team.
The striking Indian hockey players expressed willingness to play the upcoming World Cup with their own money if need be after their demands for settlement of long-pending dues were rejected by Hockey India officials on Tuesday. 'We are willing to play the World Cup with our money. Since they [Hockey India] are saying they don't have the money we are ready to chip in from our own pockets,' declared captain Rajpal Singh on Tuesday.
Veteran sports administrator Narinder Batra's former office at the Indian Olympic Association headquarters and the Hockey India office in New Delhi were on Monday raided by CBI officials.
A shameful incident saw some of the four Indian women's hockey team players made to sit on the floor of the train while returning back home from Rio Olympics.
Four-time champions Pakistan produced a lion-hearted performance before going down 0-1 to Olympic bronze medallist Germany in their opening Pool D match of the 2018 Hockey World Cup.
Keen to revive bilateral ties with India, the Pakistan Hockey Federation is planning to host the country for a Test series and has got the government's clearance for it even though the dates are yet to be finalised.
The former India hockey ace has decided to sell his house to finance the project.
The Olympic Gold Quest, founded by sports legends Prakash Padukone and Geet Sethi, has provisionally suspended the funding it gives to drug-tainted athlete Ashwini Akkunji, one of the sports persons it supports, and is awaiting the result of her "B" sample.
Former India captain Dhanraj Pillay on Monday batted for participation of Pakistan's players in the Hockey India League (HIL) tournament and urged Hockey India to take up the issue with politicians to ensure their presence in the future editions of the franchise-based league.
Sahara Group chief Subrata Roy passed away on Tuesday due to a cardiorespiratory arrest after a prolonged illness, a company statement said. He was 75. He was 75. According to the company statement, he passed away at 10.30 pm due to cardio-respiratory arrest following an extended battle with complications arising from metastatic malignancy, hypertension, and diabetes.
Seventy two years ago, a newly independent India ventured to hold the the first Asian Games in Delhi with meager resources.
The 78-year-old Naveen is on the cusp of creating history. He must win the forthcoming Assembly polls to become India's longest-serving chief minister, a record held by Sikkim's Pawan Kumar Chamling.
Veteran sports administrator Narinder Batra quit his positions as International Hockey Federation president and also gave up IOC membership, hours after CBI conducted multiple raids at his residence and offices in New Delhi and Jammu.
The 59-year-old Batra is one of the few sports administrators to head a national Olympic committee while heading an important international sports federation.
After a year's delay due to COVID-19, the 19th Asian Games officially opens in Hangzhou on Saturday with hosts China eager to lift a country mired in economic gloom.
On May 25, Batra was removed as IOA chief after the Delhi High Court struck down the post of 'life member' in Hockey India, courtesy which he had contested and won the apex body elections back in 2017.
Pakistan will not be able to send its national team for Azlan Shah tournament in Malaysia next month and the junior team to Singapore unless the government released the promised funds, Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) has said.
'The concept of an MP IPL team is the brainchild of Kamal Nath.' 'If the Congress government comes to power in the state, he will assemble an IPL team for MP with the assistance of his business contacts.'
'In investing, you have to first make sure you don't make big mistakes.' 'I would advise small investors to be systematic, don't be arbitrary; don't be on either end of the risk spectrum.' 'Don't go from fixed deposit to option trading or crypto trading.'
In an address at an election rally in this southern-most part of Mizoram bordering Myanmar, Singh said violence is no solution to any problem and the two communities in Manipur must talk to each other to improve the situation in the troubled state.
Arjun Bhati has managed to raise 4.30 lakh to fight the COVID-19 pandemic by selling all his trophies, including three world junior golf championship titles and a national championship. Meanwhile, chess players in the country, including the likes of Grandmaster P Harikrishna, are doing their bit in the fight against the Covid-19 by raising more than Rs 3 lakh as their contribution.
The story of Sahara India Pariwar founder Subrata Roy, who died in Mumbai on November 14 aged 75, is the stuff of movies - of a spectacular rise and an equally spectacular fall. Born in Araria, Bihar, Roy was 30 when he set up Sahara in 1978. He started with a capital of about Rs 2,000, a peon, a clerk and his father's Lambretta scooter in Gorakhpur, eastern Uttar Pradesh, writes Tamal Bandyopadhyay in his 2014 book, Sahara: The Untold Story. Sahara was not his first venture.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
'If we want to ensure this isn't a once-in-four-decade phenomenon, then we have to produce 1,800 players all the time, create infrastructure, so that we are constantly challenging at the top of the ladder.'
All these male politicians are unlikely to risk their sinecures to speak up in support of a bunch of women wrestlers who have chosen to challenge a politician who appears to have the ruling regime in a stranglehold, points out Kanika Datta.
Indian badminton team's chief coach Pullela Gopichand, multiple world title holder cueist Pankaj Advani, former hockey captain Dhanraj Pillay were some of the prominent names who made financial contribution in country's fight against coronavirus pandemic.
Ms Usha may soon discover that winning four gold medals at the Asian Games and qualifying for the Los Angeles Olympics is a walk in the park compared with the challenges of stabilising governance at the IOA, observes Kanika Datta.
Union Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore on Sunday said the government will launch a 'Khelo India' programme at a cost of Rs 1,756 crore for the period 2017-18 to 2019-20.
The view is that the attention on the national team is fleeting, incidental and dependent on the results they produce.
A combined India-Pakistan team will take on World XI for a charity match
'I am not envious of those who are making millions. It's their era and I had my era.'
'Something like this was never taken up by the women's hockey team before and I am very proud we used our time during the lockdown for a good cause.'
'Due to the ongoing pandemic and lockdown, we the sports bodies are unlikely to get any sponsorship and hence we may find it very difficult to restart our activities effectively'
The money covers sport in England, with other parts of the United Kingdom having separate budgets.
Dismissing discrimination charges levelled against it, Hockey India on Friday said it will pay the protesting women hockey players at par with their male counterparts once it has the fund ready.
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