By IANS,
New Delhi : Sports Minister M.S.Gill wants media to promote hockey, but national camp at the Dhyanchand National Stadium was out of bounds for journalists.
Barely a week after Gill inaugurated the venue for the World Cup starting Feb 28, the
reporters, who had gathered here Wednesday morning to cover the first training session of the Indian team after their return from Pune, were locked out of the stadium.
The official version is that Sports Authority of India (SAI) has taken the decision to bar media’s entry for security reasons and so the training sessions can’t be reported. It will be the same for the other participating teams in the World Cup.
“The decision has been taken because of security reasons. The police said they would require a large posse to manage the media persons and expressed their inability to provide adequate security,” sports ministry spokesman told IANS.
“The same will apply for other teams also when they will practice. We will later appoint one spokesperson from the participating teams to brief the media.”
The ministry, however, had no answer as to how an important training camp can be covered without watching the players playing.
It was not only media, but even hockey officials were stopped from entering the stadium.
Hockey India (HI) said that the diktat of the ministry has come as a shock to it.
“We were surprised when we came to know about the development. How can you not allow media inside and expect coverage of World Cup hockey. It will only show the tournament in a poor light. We are going to talk to SAI and ask them to make some arrangement so that at least one player from the team can be present to brief the media everyday,” said a top HI official.
Even as the media persons were protesting at the main gate, some photographers and reporters slipped from other entry points, making a mockery of the security arrangements.
It has also been learnt that chief coach Jose Brasa has been gagged from talking to the media.
“I do not want to say anything,” Brasa said with folded hands when questioned by the media while the Spaniard was coming out of the stadium.