Sylvanus Dung Dung, a full-back who helped India win the last of its eight Olympic hockey gold medals at the 1980 Moscow Games, says he is struggling in a country that has no time for sportsmen other than cricketers.

A sports ministry monthly pension of 2,500 rupees (55 dollars) is not enough to support the 55-year-old and his family of five who live in a small home in the eastern city of Ranchi.

"What good is an Olympic gold medal if it can't help me live a life of dignity, I may as well sell it off," Dung Dung said.

"I have asked the government and the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) to utilise my knowledge of the game in any way they like. I can coach, but no one has responded to my pleas."

Dung Dung's plight illustrates the lack of support for hockey, still regarded as India's national sport despite the country's obsession with cricket.

While cricket boasts of vast corporate sponsorship and millionaire stars like Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly enjoy demi-god status, few care for the hockey players.

The national hockey team does not even have a sponsor after oil major Castrol withdrew its support in May as a cost-cutting measure.

This when Indian hockey is finally beginning to look up again after winning two back-to-back titles in Australia and Germany last month.

Dhanraj Pillay's men first beat Australia and Pakistan in Sydney before taking the Hamburg Masters title against a field that included world champions Germany, Spain and Argentina.

Critics believe India are strong contenders to win the elite six-nation Champions Trophy in the Netherlands next month and the Olympic qualifying tournament in Spain in March.

IHF officials are confident they will find a sponsor for the national team before the Champions Trophy, but the general apathy pervading the sport stands out starkly.

India's innumerable television channels that cover cricket extensively -- even second-grade English county matches -- showed no interest in telecasting the hockey tournaments in Australia and Germany.

"We wanted to show the matches, especially the ones featuring India and Pakistan, but no sponsor was willing to bear the expenses," a TV executive said.

Unlike victorious Indian cricket teams which are feted on their return, the hockey players were made to fend for themselves after finding their luggage missing on the return flight from Hamburg on Monday night.

"No one bothered to help us out. We were stranded at the airport for three hours trying to find someone to register our complaint," said former captain Dilip Tirkey, a veteran of over 300 internationals.

"I felt humiliated, frustrated and hurt at the way we were treated after having brought honour to the country.

"No wonder few parents want their children to become hockey players."

In these days of professional sport, hockey players do not earn fees for representing India and get a meagre daily allowance of 20 dollars when they tour abroad.

In comparison, Indian cricketers receive fees of 2,800 dollars for a single one-day international, besides five-star hotel accommodation and an out-of-pocket allowance of 60 dollars a day.

This is besides the multi-million dollar endorsement deals the likes of Tendulkar and Ganguly enjoy.

The only hockey player who appears in advertisements is Pillay, 34, a veteran of three Olympic games and the best-known face of Indian hockey.

Pillay, however, does not have what Dung Dung does: an Olympic gold medal.