Odisha government announced a five-year deal with Hockey India on Thursday to replace Sahara as the new sponsor of Indian hockey team, which includes- junior mens team, senior mens team and senior womens team. The deal is estimated to be approximately Rs 150 crore.
The announcement was made by Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik during a grand function on Thursday, which was also attended by both the Indian men’s and women’s hockey team player.
During the function, Odisha government also unveiled its logo that will don the new jerseys of both the teams.
Odisha will host Hockey world cup this year and the move to sponsor national team comes as a great news for hockey fans. Odisha has hosted big tournaments like Champions trophy in 2014 and Hockey World League finals in 2017. The state government also owns Kalinga Lancers which is a team participating in Hockey India League. It will not be wrong to say that a hockey oriented state owes the game of hockey.
On becoming the new sponsor of Indian Hockey team, Chief minister of Odisha Naveen Patnaik said “Hockey in Odisha is more than a sport, it’s a way of life, especially in our tribal regions where children learn to walk with hockey sticks. No wonder Odisha has produced India’s finest hockey talent. This is a first where a state government will not just be promoting a sport within its boundaries but will also support and nurture India hockey. This is Odisha’s gift to the nation,”.
Shri. Naveen Patnaik, the Chief Minister of Odisha, trusts the partnership between Hockey India and the Government of Odisha will bring about positive growth for hockey in India.#IndiaKaGame pic.twitter.com/tC9vDYc3b1
— Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) February 15, 2018
End of the deal with Sahara
Hockey India terminated their deal with Sahara that was extended till 2021 in January 2017. Although no official reason was given for two parties ending the deal prematurely, a Hockey India official said it was owing to the crisis that has engulfed the company. Sahara were associated with Indian national teams since 1995.
Not to forget, Hockey India ended a 23 years old deal with Sahara India Pariwar, which is a private company based in Lucknow, India. It claims to employ the largest number of workers in the world. Sahara is suffering from financial crisis and it all began in March 2012. SEBI registered a case against Sahara for investors fraud, they claimed that Subrata Roy, the chairman of Sahara didn’t return a huge sum of money to the company investors.
Since then the company’s major business firms are sealed and suffering the financial crisis, first they lost the sponsorship right of Indian cricket team and now Hockey India also part its way. Sahara also sponsored top Indian shuttlers like Saina Nehwal and also owned IPL franchise Pune Warriors India. However, the conflict with SEBI has turned out to be a nightmare for Lucknow based company, and they seems to have lost it all.
