FIH World Cup Trophy Tour: Tamil Nadu’s legendary hockey champions disrespected at an event; see former players response here

FIH World Cup Trophy: On Wednesday, there was an unpleasant incident at the hockey World Cup Trophy tour event at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Hockey Stadium in this city when hockey legends V. Baskaran, B.P. Govinda, Leslie Fernandez, and V.J. Philips were denied access to the podium for guests.

Udhayanidhi Stalin, the Tamil Nadu Minister for Youth Welfare & Sports Development, displayed the trophy following an exhibition game and presented it to Kerala Hockey. The ex-players were relegated to the sidelines as the politicians, hockey officials, and Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu (SDAT) officials were led to the platform.

Also Read: FIFA World Cup 2022: Keralan mother travels to Qatar for Messi by-road with five children, Anand Mahindra hails her fan-spirit

What happened at the event?

At that point, Baskaran asked for a respectful response. He claimed that after being invited, the hockey players felt disrespected.

He became enraged, asking, “Is this a hockey event or what?” The World Cup champions (Govinda, Leslie, and Philips) in particular had to sit in the front row on the podium, per his requirement. The issue was then brought up with the sports minister by Baskaran, the team captain of India’s gold-winning Olympic squad from 1980 in Moscow. On the raised platform, the seats for the hockey players were set up thanks to the latter.

Also Read: IND vs BAN: King Kohli’s death stare to WK Rishabh Pant after he DENIES single breaks the internet, watch here

I have played three world cups: Philips

Philips, in his speech, said: “They (the organisers) forgot how to honour the World Cup winners! I’m extremely distressed. From among the eight crore population of Tamil Nadu, only three of us have won the World Cup and not many have even played in it.

“I’ve played three World Cups, I wasn’t even recognised and they don’t even find me worthy of respect. From playing barefoot on this very ground, I’ve donned the India colours for around 12 years and represented the country in two Olympics apart from the World Cups. If people from our State don’t respect us, where else will we get respect? It’s very disturbing.”

The hockey stars were given Udhayanidhi’s assurance that similar incidents wouldn’t occur again.

Keep watching our YouTube Channel ‘DNP INDIA’. Also, please subscribe and follow us on FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM, and TWITTER