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Hockey team plans hunger strike over Twenty20 reaction

Children wave flags as they wait to greet India's victorious Twenty20 cricket team as they ride in an open bus from Mumbai's international airport to the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai yesterday. PHOTO: AFP

India's Asia Cup field hockey team is so upset at their victory being ignored while the country's cricketers returned home to a joyous welcome yesterday that some members will go on a hunger strike, media reports said yesterday.

Team coach Joaquim Carvalho told reporters that his team was angry at being "treated like orphans" and four players and two team officials would go on a hunger strike to protest, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.

Earlier this month the hockey team won the men's field hockey Asia Cup title by outplaying South Korea 7-2. It was the biggest victory in an Asia Cup final and the Indian team finished with an all-win record in the tournament.

While their win made front page news, it didn't generate the kind of public adulation and cash awards from the federal and state government's as the cricket team did for Monday's win over rivals Pakistan in the Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa.

The team will receive cash rewards of nearly US$2 million, said Rajiv Shukla, vice president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India.

Various state governments have also announced cash awards for the cricketers.

The cricket-mad country has been celebrating the win since Monday, with the skies around the country lit up by fireworks. India last won the 50-over Cricket World Cup in 1983.

"Every sportsperson needs to be recognized," Carvalho said in the southern city of Chennai, PTI reported.

Ramesh Parameswaran, a junior coach, manager R.K. Shetty and players Vikram Kanth, V.R. Rahunath, S.V. Sunil and Ignace Tirkey will go on hunger strike outside the home of the chief minister of Karnataka state.
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