Union Sports minister Anurag Thakur/ File Photo
New Delhi: Union Sports minister Anurag Thakur on Thursday said that the government has spent over Rs 65 crore on Indian men's hockey teams in the last five years apart from sanctioning Rs 103.98 crore on 20 infrastructure projects related to the game.
He said that the money was spent on coaching camps, foreign competitions, domestic competitions, and other expenses.
"An amount of Rs. 45.05 crore has been spent on Senior Hockey Men's team and Rs. 20.23 crore on Junior Hockey Men's Team towards coaching camps, foreign competitions, domestic competitions, the salary of coaches, equipment, etc., during the last five years, that is, 2016-17 to 2020-21" Anurag Thakur's written reply in the Rajya Sabha read.
"Further, 20 infrastructure projects worth Rs. 103.98 crore for hockey have been sanctioned under Khelo India Scheme since 2016-17," he added.
The senior men's hockey team won bronze in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics after defeating Germany 5-4 in the third-place match. This was a historic win as the Indian hockey team won a medal in the Olympics after a gap of 41 years.