Thanks to S M Masood, managing director of the City Limouzines (India) Limited, the Indian women's hockey will get an annual sponsorship of Rs one crore per year upto 2010. This was disclosed by Masood in an exclusive interview to
rediff.com on Wednesday night.
Though the Indian Women's Hockey Federation had invited the media to make this annoucement at a press conference on the eve of team's departure to The Netherlands the event ended on a chaotic note with the distribution of kits by the wife of the sponsor and thereafter everyone heading for food.
The team led by Joyti Sunita Kullu will play five practice matches with The Netherlands and New Zealand before taking part in the Champion's Trophy. M K Kaushik, former Olympian and coach for the women's hockey team will accompany the team.
Masood plans to spend a whopping Rs 1,000 crore in developing sports cities and sponsoring