Japanese Junior World Hockey team waylaid in Uttar Pradesh
The Japanese junior hockey team were involved in an incident on Friday night when they were allegedly attacked by two youths driving a safari.
The side, here for the ongoing Junior Hockey World Cup, were returning to the hotel when they were waylaid by the vehicle, which sported affiliations to the ruling Samajwadi Party. It's alleged that the youths drew rifles but the police, who apprehended the goons later, denied the involvement of guns.
The pilot car, usually a strategy employed to stop incidents like this, was lost thanks to traffic. The FIH called it a minor incident. "The Japanese team bus was involved in a minor traffic incident," an email from the body said. "It was nothing more than that. The FIH can confirm that the bus was not attacked."
It's interesting to note that the local organisers have had problems with respect to pilot cars before. When the Belgium team bus was ready for departure from the Dhyan Chand Stadium on Friday, the pilot car couldn't be located. Abuses in hindi flew freely between all parties for a good 15 minutes before the driver, who had been in the vicinity all along, was located.
This is not the first instance of a visiting hockey team coming under 'attack' while in India in recent times. During the World Hockey League final in Raipur last year, a few people threw stones at a bus carrying the Argentina side. Argentina had just beaten the hosts India 0-3 in one of the group games. Three people were later held for their role.