New Delhi: Hockey India secretary general Narinder Batra on Friday wrote to Sports Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, requesting more support for the game to build on the success of the Incheon Asian Games.
Batra has approached Sonowal after claiming step "motherly treatment" from the ministry's nodal agency, the Sports Authority of India (SAI).
"This achievement has only been possible due the extensive efforts of the players, coaches and the other support staff. We have outlined a few areas where we request your intervention and wisdom so that Indian hockey can capitalise on this recent success," Batra wrote in his letter a day after India beat Pakistan to win the men's hockey gold at the Asian Games after 16 years.
The women's team won the bronze in Incheon.
Batra has been a fierce critic of SAI of late, so much so that before the Asian Games he blamed SAI for not providing adequate funding.
SAI, on the other hand, had said that it released Rs.11.27 crores to Hockey India, an amount more than the sport's annual allocated budget of Rs.10.50 crore.
In his letter, Batra also requested Sonowal to ensure that contracts of men's chief coach Terry Walsh, women's coach Neil Hawgood and high performance director Roelant Oltmans, are extended till the 2016 Rio Olympics. Batra asked for similar extension for men's team scientific advisor Matt Eyles while seeking a sanction for the replacement of scientific advisor for the women's team.
He also suggested the Minister that the artificial turfs in Bangalore, Patiala and Bhopal be changed at the earliest.
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