New Delhi, April 8 (IANS): The cash-strapped Indian ice hockey team has resorted to crowd funding via social media to participate in an upcoming international tournament.

Ice Hockey Association of India (IHAI) has launched a campaign on Twitter to raise funds using the hashtag #SupportIceHockey and setting up a website to gather funds as it does not have money to travel to Kuwait for next week's International Ice Hockey Federation Challenge Cup.

"Please support our Ice Hockey team travelling to Kuwait. We need to raise funds for the team. A 20k donation will cover costs for 1 player," IHAI tweeted.

The association also said that it is facing a tough battle to collect funds since all sponsorships are directed towards cricket.

"It is so tough to push sports like ice hockey when cricket takes up all sponsor budgets. We have a national team and are begging for money."

The 25-member-squad hopes to raise Rs.20 lakh for the week-long tournament.