Sushil Manav

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 6

The defeat in the match for bronze against the Great Britain today has not just the ended the run for a medal for some state players in the Indian women hockey team, but has also shattered their dream for a better future.

The Olympic team has nine players from Haryana, with a majority of them coming from a humble background.

A victory today could have earned them Rs 2.5 crore each as prize money, a job as senior coach in the Sports Department and a plot by HSVP on concessional rates.

While some senior players like Rani Rampal and Savita Punia have been part of the teams that won the 2014 and 2018 Asian Games and got cash incentives under the state’s sports policy, there are others like Sharmila Devi and Neha Warsi, who were not part of the squad, who haven’t received any big rewards.

“For long, Savita has remained without a job despite the fact that she was playing for India. The team won bronze in the 2014 Asian Games, but no job came her way. It was only after the team’s victory in 2018 that she got a job with the SAI. We were hopeful that a medal in Tokyo will ensure her a government,” said Savita’s father Mahender Punia.

Though presently working with the Railways, Nisha and her family have seen many hardships. “We had plans to spend some amount of the prize money on house repair,” said her father Sohrab Warsi.

Job too was on offer

A victory on Friday could have earned players Rs 2.5 crore each as prize money, a job as senior coach in the Sports Department and a plot from Haryana Shehri Vikas Pradhikaran at concessional rates