Olympians auction jerseys to raise funds for hockey tournament

Chandigarh, Jun 5 (UNI) Failing to rope in sponsors for a hockey tournament, Olympians Prabhjot Singh and Deepak Thakur and international hockey player Rajpal Singh today auctioned their team India jerseys to raise funds.

''As the organisers fail to rope in sponsors for the sixth edition of the Dharam Singh Memorial Six-a-Side Hockey Tournament to be held here from June 8 to 12, we decided to raise funds through auction of our apparel worn by us during international tournaments,'' said Prabhjot Singh and Rajpal Singh after the auction which fetched a total of Rs 2.3 lakh.

"'We also wanted to draw attention of the government to the promotion of hockey," they said. Deepak Thakur was not present at the auction venue here as he is playing in the German league.

The auction began with jersey No 7 of Deepak Thakur who was wore it in the match between India and Pakistan at the Champions Trophy in Holland in 2004. Bhupinder, a transporter from Allahabad, was the highest bidder and purchased the jersey for Rs 60,000.

''I could have bid for other T-shirts but 7 is our lucky number.

It is a gift for my 11-year old son who is a hockey fan,'' Bhupinder said.

Rajpal Singh's jersey No 12, which he wore in the Asia Cup final at Chennai in 2007, was clinched by Rajpal Singh Sandhu of Australian who made the highest bid at Rs 75,000.

Jersey No 15 belonged to highest scorer in the the Asia Cup final at Chennai in 2007, with 15 goals. Sandeep Aggarwal, owner of Gomti Agri Co of Jalandhar won the auction at Rs 95,000.

''Prabhjot played with our equipment (Tornando of Gomti Agro Co.).

We were determined to be the highest bidder to get possession of jersey No 15 of Prabhjot,'' said Sandeep.

UNI XC PS AB UCS1813