<p>Even as Mumbai&rsquo;s air quality index hasn&rsquo;t quite plummeted to unhealthy lows just yet, hockey, our national sport, is gasping for breath here.</p>
<p>As the eight-team <a href="https://www.mid-day.com/sports/other-sports/article/champions-training-centre-central-rly-win-wcg-rink-hockey-23531094" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"><strong>Hockey</strong></a> Mumbai Super League (HMSL) gets underway at the Don Bosco High School turf at Matunga today (May 1 to 11), the organisers, Hockey Mumbai City (HMC) have revealed their struggles to achieve this Mission Impossible.</p>
<p>&ldquo;There are no sponsors for field hockey [11-a-side version] in the city. Sponsors believe there are no big clubs or big names in Mumbai hockey anymore so there are no footfalls or eyeballs [spectators], so there&rsquo;s no point advertising. So far, we&rsquo;ve only managed to collect 50 per cent of funding to cover the tournament,&rdquo; Dhananjay Mahadik, secretary of HMC, told mid-day on Wednesday.</p>
<p>Even as five-a-side rink hockey tournaments have been annual affairs in some of the city&rsquo;s pockets like Kandivli, Malad, Andheri and Bandra, to name a few, there has not been a field hockey event in the city for over two years. Champions Training Centre emerged victors in the last edition of the HSML in 2023.</p>
<p><strong>Also Read:&nbsp;</strong><strong><a href="https://www.mid-day.com/sports/other-sports/article/sinner-reveals-he-thought-of-retiring-after-doping-scandal-23532148" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Sinner reveals he thought of retiring after doping scandal</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>No ground in Mumbai</strong><br />Mahadik, Commonweath Games silver-winning defender, says there is no good quality, full-size hockey turf in the city. &ldquo;There are two prominent hockey turfs in Mumbai. One is at the Mumbai Hockey Association Ltd [MHAL] in Churchgate and the other is at the Sports Authority of India [SAI] campus in Kandivli. However, there is an ongoing lease issue between the MHAL and the state government, who own the land, so I wrote a letter to Maharashtra&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.mid-day.com/sports/cricket/article/ipl-2025-its-going-to-be-an-exciting-challenge-boult-on-vaibhav-suryavanshi-23532130" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"><strong>Sports</strong></a> Minister Dattatray Vithoba Bharne [a copy of the letter is with mid-day] on April 22 to seek his permission to use the ground for our tournament, but have got no reply. And the SAI ground is awaiting renovation [the state is planning a centre of excellence there] so that&rsquo;s unavailable too. Thankfully, Don Bosco has a ground which we have hired. It&rsquo;s shocking that hockey is struggling to survive in a city like Mumbai which has produced numerous internationals and Olympians in the past,&rdquo; explained Mahadik, whose HMC is the only district body recognised by Hockey Maharashtra which runs the sport in the state and is affiliated to the national body, Hockey India.</p>
<p><strong>Low income, high expenses</strong><br />&ldquo;We&rsquo;re charging Rs 25,000 entry fee per team, but our expenditure is higher. The winning team&rsquo;s cash award is R1 lakh while the runners-up will earn Rs 50,000. &nbsp;The cost to rent the turf is Rs 80,000, while we will be paying the referees Rs 400 each per game [five officials for each of the 19 games]. Also, &nbsp;every game will have a man of the match award [Rs 1000] which I will pay for from my own pocket. I&rsquo;m not even getting into administrative expenses like food and refreshments,&rdquo; said Mahadik, adding that HMC is planning to organise a weekly camp for players, who will be scouted from this tournament to represent Mumbai District or better still, go on to represent the state team.</p>
<p>The eight HMSL teams &mdash; Police Boys, CTC, Union Bank, Mumbai Police, Central Railway, Bombay Republicans, MbPT and Mumbai Customs &mdash; have been divided into two groups. The quarter-finals will be on on May 6-7, semis on May 9 and final on May 11.&nbsp;</p>
<h2>State government cancels MHAL&rsquo;s lease</h2>
<p>The State govt has cancelled the lease of the Churchgate plot occupied by the Mumbai Hockey Association Ltd. As per a GR (Govt Resolution) issued on Wednesday: &ldquo;The lease of the plot [to MHAL] is hereby cancelled and the said plot will remain under possession of the Sports Department &nbsp;for use as a playground.&rdquo; MHAL secretary Ramsingh Rathore however, told mid-day that he has not yet received this GR. &ldquo;I can only comment on the issue after receiving the said letter and throughly going through it,&rdquo; said Rathore.&nbsp;</p><p><script type="text/javascript">atOptions={'key':'d0ddb8ef8f1a62a8cdd22fac27fc5ea7','format':'iframe','height':90,'width':728,'params':{}};</script></p><p>
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“We’re charging Rs 25,000 entry fee per team, but our expenditure is higher. The winning team’s cash award is R1 lakh while the runners-up will earn Rs 50,000

Hockey is struggling to survive in Mumbai: HMC secretary Mahadik

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Hockey is struggling to survive in Mumbai: HMC secretary Mahadik

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