Bhopal: MP Civil Services Women’s hockey players in 50s made to face younger opponents,no new recruitment for years in team

Bhopal(Madhya Pradesh): The MP civil services women’s hockey team has been waiting for entry of younger members under sports quota for over two decades as the older hands find it difficult to compete with relatively younger opponents.

All India Civil Services Hockey Tournament was held in Bhopal, at Major Dhyanchand hockey stadium in the last week of June. Most of the rival teams' players in the tournament were approximately 30-40 years old, but the MP women's team's players were in their 50s.

“We have to play at the age of 55-60 because there has been no new recruitment of woman hockey players who have played at national level, in the government jobs under sports quota for at least two and a half decades,” said a player wishing anonymity, said a MP team player while talking to Free Press.

She further said that besides the new recruitment issue, neither the team members were provided with a coach, nor we had enough time to practice ahead of the tournament. They even had to attend their office during the tournament, she added.

Vinod Pradhan, Joint Director, Sports, confirmed, "There have been recruitments in other sports but not hockey."

Another team member said, “All of us have played and won many tournaments but then we were physically fit and practiced regularly. But now, as we are aging and we don't have any time to practice, we are unable to perform like we used to do earlier.”

“Hockey is a team sport but when more than half of the team members are above 55 and are playing against players who are half their age, it is a lost game.”

(Contributed by Minal Tomar and Apoorva Chakrayat)