Sports Ministry asks Hockey India to exercise fiscal restraint

New Delhi: The Indian team’s participation in the upcoming Sultan Azlan Shah tournament was today thrown into confusion after Hockey India claimed to have pulled out of the event, citing Sports Authority of India’s refusal to bear the team’s travel expenditure. However, after the news broke out, the Sports Ministry said that it has directed SAI to allocate the required funds to meet the air ticket expenses of the team considering the prestige attached to the tournament. The Ministry’s directive to SAI paves the way for India’s participation, though Hockey India, which announced its withdrawal through an official press release, has not yet made any statement on the development. [caption id=“attachment_641288” align=“alignright” width=“380”]  India’s hockey team is finally going to Azlan Shah. Getty Images[/caption] When contacted for their reaction, a Hockey India official said that they will take a decision soon, allowing the confusion to prevail. Earlier, soon after Hockey India decided to pull out of the event to be held in Ipoh, Malaysia, from March 9-17, Sports Secretary P K Deb stepped in to resolve the issue. “The Sports Ministry has asked SAI to release the funds. We stepped in because Azlan Shah is a very important tournament and we don’t want to deprive our players a chance to participate in such a prestigious tournament,” said Sports Secretary P K Deb. “India have always figured in the previous editions of the tournament and the Sports Ministry made the exception this time keeping in mind the players’ interest,” he added. Deb, however, asked Hockey India to exercise fiscal restrain in future. “One thing I would like to make it clear is that HI needs to be more cautious and disciplined in spending money which has been allocated to them by SAI. “The allocation for the year was 5.94 crore and it (HI) spent 11.27 crore, more than double the allocation. This allocation of 5.94 crore was decided after discussion with HI. So at some point of time they need to be told to become more careful while spending the money”, he said. PTI