By Sk Badiruddin
An old photo of India's national women's kabaddi team waiting for an auto-rickshaw while holding a large trophy and cheque with prize money on it, has been revived on WhatsApp and Facebook as recent.
BOOM found that the photo is not recent but an incident from 2011 when India's women kabaddi players had to wait for an auto at Bhai Bala Chowk, Ludhiana, Punjab after winning the kabaddi world cup that year.
The photo shows three women players standing on a street holding a large golden trophy and a large cheque with prize money of 25 lakh rupees printed on it. A Sikh man who appears to be a security guard can be seen standing behind the women.
The image is being shared on Facebook with a caption reads, "What a pity! No one came to receive the players of Kabaddi World Champion. It is very shameful to watch that the players are waiting for an auto-rickshaw with Championship trophy in their hand."
View the post here.
BOOM also received the image on our WhatsApp helpline number with a request to verify.
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Fact Check
BOOM found that the photo is from November 2011 when the Indian national women's kabaddi team were stranded in Ludhiana, Punjab without transportation after winning the kabaddi World Cup. The Indian women's team defeated United Kingdom in the final.
Since 2011, the same image has been shared by netizens with captions that it shows apathy towards sportspersons and athletes in cricket-obsessed India.
Using keywords we were able to find a news report by Punjab based English daily The Tribune dated November 21, 2011.
The report stated that no vehicle was offered by the sports department and the World Cup organizers and the Indian women kabaddi players had no option but to wait for an auto-rickshaw to reach a bus stand.
Women kabaddi players holding a large trophy caught the attention of passersby at Bhai Bala Chowk, Ludhiana in Punjab.
"Till yesterday both Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal were posing for a photograph with us and barely a night after the event everyone seems to have forgotten us," a member of the women's kabaddi team is quoted as saying.
Earlier that day, the women's team were not allowed to check out of the hotel they were put up in with the hotel staff demanding they clear unpaid bills of 22,000 rupees including alcohol, the report said.
Below is an excerpt from the article.
"Kulwinder and Jaskaran Kaur both members of kabaddi team were seen frantically calling the authorities. But they got no response. "We do not have a single penny as everything was burnt in the accident. But since morning no one is picking up our phone. We have been totally ignored following the finals," said Kulwinder,"
The Tribune's report is archived here.
According toanother report, Badal, then chief minister of Punjab promised government jobs to all the members of Indian women kabaddi team, winner of World Kabaddi Cup, 2011.
An English news story dated November 22, 2011 by Daily Bhaskar quoted then Punjab Sports Director Pargat Singh who said arrangements for the players were made by the organising committee.
"We fulfilled all the demands made by the team management. If the players faced an inconvenient it's the responsibility of the team management," Singh was reported to have said.
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