Indian hockey team given grand farewell ahead of London Olympics

New Delhi, June 24 (ANI): The Indian hockey team on Sunday received a grand farewell from former champions before departing for the 2012 London Olympics.

In an event organised by Hockey India, to honour 34 past champions, the current crop of players were motivated and were wished well before leaving for London.

Amongst the dignitaries attending this function was India's Sports Minister, Ajay Maken, who wished luck to the players, and said the team had been displaying consistent performance for the past year and hoped for a podium finish.

"I wish the Indian team all the best and we are very hopeful the way they have played in the past one year or so, I think the team is coming up, hockey is at it's revival and I feel that hockey players, the way they are playing, they are going to do really well in the London Olympics," Maken said.

The Indian team, coached by Australian Michael Nobbs qualified for the quadrennial games after winning a qualifying tournament in New Delhi.

The former Hockey players who were felicitated in the event included Leslie Claudius, Balbir Singh Sr, Gurbux Singh, V Baskaran, MK Kaushik, MM Sommaiya, Mohammad Shahid and Zafar Iqbal, and they were given a cash award of rupees 2,00,000 each. (ANI)