CHENNAI: The Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) men’s team may have won the Barna-Bellack Cup for the 19th time at the senior nationals in Manesar on Thursday, but there was something unique about the Haryana team that came up marginally short in the final.
What’s more interesting than the 3-2 scoreline is that three among the five-member Haryana team were non-locals: Sourav Saha (West Bengal), Soumyajit Ghosh (North Bengal) and Jubin Kumar (Chandigarh). What’s the reason they chose to not represent their home State? Is Haryana the sole beneficiary because of the incentives it provides?
Ghosh, who has represented PSPB for many years, was left out of the team this year but the 23-year-old utilised the opportunity by turning out for Haryana because he feels Bengal doesn’t take as good care of its players.
For example, Haryana offers cash rewards of `3 lakh for senior nationals winners (`2 & 1 lakh for silver and bronze) and `5 lakh for National Games champions (`3 & 2 lakh for silver and bronze). “Most good players receive backing from an institution and their State. PSPB, for example, has taken care of me very well, but the same can’t be said about North Bengal. On the other hand, Haryana is one of the best when it comes to rewarding players. I will represent them at the National Games as well,” the World No 82 told Express.
Migrating from one state to another isn’t uncommon or difficult — it just requires no objection certificates from the two state associations. Ghosh feels Bengal-based players are the ones who feel shortchanged to some extent, hence they’re more likely to shift. It looks bad for what was once the cradle of the sport in the country.
“Look at Tamil Nadu or Gujarat. You don’t see players leave because they’re happy... And rightfully so. Even Ankita (Das) moved to Tamil Nadu. I hate to say it, but my achievements are on par with or better than many of those players. Why should I make do with less?”
But a source in the West Bengal association said player migrations were not limited to them, adding that while they do whatever possible to retain players, matching Haryana is impossible. “Haryana is probably the best when it comes to cash rewards. We have lost players to them, but players have come to us from other states as well. One that comes to mind is Sanmay (Paranjape) of Maharashtra.”
rohan@newindianexpress.com