Ordos, China: In an embarrassing turn of events for the Indian hockey team, many of its players have been left without proper shoes ahead of the much-anticipated Asian Champions Trophy (ACT) final against Pakistan.
The shortage of proper turf shoes has meant that several members of the Indian squad have played in the ACT with training shoes, which is not only severely detrimental to the performance of the players but also poses injury risks.
Manjit Kullu, the left half back of the team, has been playing with warm-up shoes in the tournament after his only pair of hockey turf shoes had split into two. The other Indian player who is without turf shoes is Harpreet Singh.
Compared to their compatriots in the national cricket team, the average salary of the hockey player is not much and sources in the Indian team have revealed that the shoes provided by the Sports Authority of India are hardly anything to boast about.
