Image tweeted by Ice Hockey India
It may come as a surprise to know that India has a national ice hockey team, but what isn't really surprising is that the main problem they face is the one confronted by most other sports in the country- a lack of funding.
To participate in an Asia-level tournament in Kuwait later this month, the Ice Hockey Association of India (IHAI) team has taken to social media, to 'beg' for money, seeking to crowdfund their trip.
On Sunday, the IHAI team tweeted this:
On Twitter, using the hashtag, #SupportIcehockey, the team has been urging supporters to donate anything from Rs 100 up to Rs 1 lakh.
Yesterday, the hashtag started trending nation-wide. At the time of writing this, there are nearly 5,000 tweets around the hashtag since yesterday. Entrepreneur Anand Mahindra took notice:
The players in the squad have contributed Rs 20,000 each, and they have managed to raise Rs 5 lakhs, with the help of supporters and friends.
They need another 7 lakhs, they said,on, this website to make it to the tournament that begins on April 18.
The Indian ice hockey team -- consisting mostly of army jawans from Ladakh, members of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and local students - has been around for six years now.
Hopefully, fund crunch will not melt this team's hopes.