While the entire nation is celebrating National Sports Day on Monday, some of the players in the Indian Olympic hockey squad faced worst possible humiliation from the railway authorities during their train journey.

According to Firstpost, four players – Deep Grace Ekka, Namita Toppo, Sunita Lakra and Lilima Minz from Odisha were made to sit on the floor of train after their reservation tickets were not confirmed by TTE on Dhanbad-Allepey Express.

Despite the players being railway employees themselves, the railway authorities denied berths to the players. Stating that it was the responsibility of the railways to care of the players, Sundargarh sub-collector assured that the incident will be brought to the attention of the railways.

The incident is a stark contrast to the other Olympic medalists of the Rio being felicitated across the nation. While shuttler silver medalist PV Sindhu, bronze medalist Sakshi Malik, Dipa Karmakar and India’s chief badminton coach Pullela Gopichand were presented with BMW cars yesterday, there is severe from the people over the treatment meted out to the hockey players regardless of their effort in Olympics.

President Pranab Mukherjee will soon give away the national sports awards at Rashtrapati Bhawan on Monday to celebrate the occasion of National Sports Day.

August 29 is also celebrated to honour legendary hockey player Major Dhyan Chand Singh as he was born on this day in 1905. PV Sindhu, Sakshi Malik, Gymnast Dipa Karmakar and Shooter Jitu Rai will be conferred with the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Awards by the President.