Punjabi University, which has won the coveted Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Trophy for more than 10 times, is now making headlines for the wrong reasons. The financial crunch faced by the university has hit the functioning of its sports department. The university has failed to hold the annual sports prize distribution function for its players for sessions 2015-16 and 2016-17. The award money for the two sessions is about Rs 4 crore. The current session is also over and the total pending cash incentives for the players have gone up to about Rs 6 crore. The university has also not paid for the training camps and the TA/DA to its players for participating in various inter-university tournaments. On Wednesday, about 300 university sportspersons held a protest outside the Vice-Chancellors office. The sportspersons said they had been making rounds to the offices of the V-C and the Director Sports but to no avail. The protestors demands included release of the cash awards and clearing of pending TA/DA bills. Proper use of sports fund. The sportspersons also demanded that the sports fund received by the university should be spent for sports alone. Apparently, the university receives Rs 18 crore sports fund annually, but since last year, it has been spending less than Rs 4 crore annually on sports. It includes paying for the diet, accommodation, training and participation in various tournaments. The university has also not purchased any sports equipment in the last two years. One of the universitys international sportspersons said that it was unfortunate that the institution had completely ignored the players. Cash awards are not just a motivation but necessary for most sportspersons to keep playing, the sportsperson said. Most sportspersons belong to economically weaker sections and the university this year did not even pay for their diet and accommodation