The Hindu : Sport / Hockey : Sponsors' indifference hits hockey academy project

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Saturday, Jul 22, 2006

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Sponsors' indifference hits hockey academy project

V.V. Subrahmanyam

HYDERABAD: Stung by the indifference of prospective sponsors to his proposed ambitious hockey academy project, triple Olympian N. Mukesh Kumar has now decided to make some serious amendments to his idea.

With no sponsor coming forward to help with his Academy project, estimated to cost Rs. 1 crore, adjacent to AP Sports School (Hakimpet), Mukesh is finding it difficult even to raise the Rs. 27.5 lakhs for registration and cost of the five-acre site allotted to him at the rate of Rs. 5 lakhs per acre in March this year.

Now he has come up with an alternative proposal to the State Government, asking it to re-allot the same site on lease so that he need not spend a huge amount.

"As things stand, I am not in a position even to start the project in a modest way by constructing a compound wall, and converting the stretch into a hockey ground and a swimming pool," said Mukesh in a chat with The Hindu.

"My original plans were to start the first phase with 16 boys at the earliest. But looking at the lukewarm response from the corporate groups whom I have approached, the plan seems unlikely to take off unless the Government contributes substantially," he explained.

For Mukesh, the main hurdle is that the few corporate groups whom he approached insisted that they would spend initially about Rs. 15 lakh but were looking for `instant' mileage as they get from cricket and tennis. "This is impossible for the next one year," said Mukesh.

One of the other alternatives Mukesh is working on is to have an indoor hockey facility to lure the nearby school students and train in all-weather conditions and raise funds to take care of the maintenance.

"I am terribly disappointed and my early enthusiasm has diminished to a large extent," he said.

The fact that Mukesh is even contemplating taking up playing golf in the IRISET Golf Course may well reflect his dejection at not being able to make a good start to his much-publicised project.

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