The Indian hockey team must be wondering just what it takes to be treated as sports stars at home. The team returned home from Germany last night with their second title win in the last one month, only to find their baggage missing — and only to be informed about it after more than two hours of waiting.After a nine-hour Air India flight from Paris, the players reached Mumbai’s Sahar airport at 11-30 p.m. to find a reception committee, including fans and officials, waiting outside. Inside, though, the players waited for their baggage — consisting of their playing kit and personal belongings.Most were to catch connecting flights to their hometowns, so the tension was mounting. What made it worse was that they were in a limbo, not sure of whether the bags were there or not. ‘‘Missing baggage is a common problem but waiting in the airport for three hours just to get basic information was very irritating. We approached several officials of Air India but no one was willing to attend’’, one player said.The players said the airline officials told them they had no idea the national team was arriving. However, one player pointed out: ‘‘This is an excuse, because they had allowed some of the officials of the Bombay Hockey Association to come inside the airport and meet the team.’’Eventually, at around 2.00 a.m. on Tuesday, the players were informed that their luggage had been left behind in Paris.When contacted, Air-India’s Director, Public Relations, Jitendra Bhargava said the management would be looking into the lapse. ‘‘Logically, the players should have been informed about it on arrival,’’ he agreed. The missing bags are expected to reach Mumbai on the next Paris-Mumbai AI flight, which lands on Wednesday.The incident brought to mind the return of the victorious team from the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games — Dhanraj Pillay was the skipper that time too. The flight to Delhi was diverted to Mumbai and the team was stranded for hours on end, unattended, at the airport.That prompted Pillay to launch into his now-famous tirade against officialdom’s ill-treatment of hockey players. This time, with as much grounds for complaint, Pillay and his teammates have acted with great restraint.
