Crowd-funded Indian ice hockey team geared up for Challenge Cup

The Indian ice hockey team is finally on its way to Kuwait for the Challenge Cup Division 1, after a wave of supporters came forward to crowd-fund their campaign.

The Division I event, that will be held from April 18-24, will have six teams including hosts Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Singapore, India, Malaysia and Oman.

India will be led by Tsewang Gyaltson and coached by Adam Sherlip who also doubles up as team physio and assisted by Abdul Hakim.

Now that the team has found its supporters through their successful crowd-funding campaign, the association can’t thank them enough for turning up in numbers.

“The turn of events since the start of the #supporticehockey campaign has been so heartening. I would like to thank every individual especially Anand Mahindra, Rahul Sharma, Co Founder of Micromax, Muhammad Ali of South Indian Shelters (SIS) and Mastan Adams, CEO, Royal Valtrans who have supported us in our endeavour to establish India on world Ice Hockey’s map,” said Harjinder Singh, General secretary of Ice Hockey Association of India.

The unique crowd funding effort of this association got support from over 285 donors from 50 cities till date.

The contingent of 22 has Seven jawans from the Indian Army, four members from the Indo-Tibetan Border Police and the rest are mostly civilians and students.

Coach Sherlip a former ice hockey player from Long Island in New York, has previously coached in China in 2007 and shifted focus to India in 2009.

With the decent success of their #supporticehockey campaign, the team is motivated to justify everyone’s support.

“Now that people have noticed our talent, we are really charged up to do something special. We aren’t going to Kuwait as mere participants, but as genuine competitors,” said captain Tsewang.

Anand Mahindra, Chairman and Managing Director, Mahindra & Mahindra said, “I am happy to sponsor the Indian Ice Hockey team’s participation in the event in Kuwait. My best wishes to the team for a great tournament in Kuwait.”

Rahul Sharma said, “It is our privilege to partner with the Indian Ice Hockey Association to make this event a great success for the team and sports fans in the country. Micromax has always believed in connecting Indians to their passions, and building sporting infrastructure and credentials is one of our key priorities. We would continue to extend similar support to sporting events in future.”

For Ice Hockey Association of India, raising funds for the tournament isn’t the end, but just the beginning.

“We are open to more donations and funds to secure the future of the sport. This is just the beginning. The more funding we get, the better we will utilize for building infrastructure for the sport which is non-existent and of top priority too. We want the players and aspirants to make a career out of this sport,” Harjinder said.

PTI