Odisha hockey player cries foul after IHL axe on fitness grounds

Sambad English Bureau Published On : Nov 8, 2014 at 1:26 PM Updated On : Nov 8, 2014 at 4:11 PM

Odisha Sun Times Sports Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Nov 8:

Odisha hockey star Prabodh Tirkey, captain of Kalinga Lancers team in the Indian Hockey League (IHL), has cried foul after he, along with three other team members, were left out of the team on grounds of physical fitness.

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Tirkey, his state mate Manjeet Kulu and two others— Jasbir Singh and Gagandeep Singh Banwait – were informed by IHL authorities about their exclusion from the team on grounds of physical fitness in an email on November 5.

Expressing displeasure over the exclusion, Tirkey said; “As per the agreement, the players are supposed to have their physical fitness test a month before the Hockey League schedule. As the League is scheduled to commence from February next year, the physical test should be conducted in January. But we were made to undergo the test at short notice,” he noted.

It may be mentioned that the Kalinga Lancers team is jointly owned by the Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation of Odisha (IDCO), a state PSU and Mahanadi Coalfield Limited (MCL), a Coal India subsidiary.