Hockey players with their family members in Rourkela on Sunday. Picture by Uttam Kumar Pal

Rourkela, Sept. 14: Twenty-eight hockey trainees, all girls, have escaped from the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar and returned here.

The trainees, all from Sundargarh district, left Bhubaneswar by train and reached Sambalpur. From there, they caught a bus and reached here.

They met additional district magistrate K.S. Chakravarty, who discussed the matter with senior coach A.N. Bihari from the local Panposh Hockey Academy, and Raghunathpalli MLA Subrat Tarai. After the discussion, the trainees were taken to their old academy.

Chakravarty said: “They have come back because they felt very homesick and there are very small issues.”

Bihari said: “The trainees have agreed to go back. We are making arrangements to send them tonight.”

The trainees were tight-lipped. However, sources in the hockey hostel said the trainees were irked over the alleged harassment and maltreatment by the hostel authorities.

These trainees were shifted to Bhubaneswar during April for higher training, which was earlier being imparted by the coaches posted here.