When condom is being promoted as a major contraceptive tool and a means to prevent sexually transmitted diseases, a sports goods manufacturer in Jalandhar has found out a novel use of it -- to make better quality hockey sticks.

Sanjay Kohli, owner of R K Sports, which makes the popular Rakshak brand sports goods, has invented the idea of using condom on the hook of the stick to make it smoother and stronger.

"Earlier the material we used on the hook was not up to the mark as the cracks on the hook were noticed clearly and we decided to use latex tubes," Kohli said, adding that he stumbled upon the new idea about six years ago.

"Till now we have sold more than one lakh such sticks and as many as four players in the Indian team use them," Kohli said.

He said he has already applied for patent of the new technique of manufacturing hockey sticks.

Kohli claimed that as many as 13 players of the Indian women's team, playing the Asia Cup in Hong Kong, are using the sticks produced by his company.

Even the Rakshak brand of sticks were used in the latest Bollywood hit movie Chak De India!, he added.

"The hook is the most important part of the stick as it is used to strike the ball. Seven pieces of mulberry wood are bound together, boiled, dried, glued and bent on a machine to make the hook. It then goes through several processes, including sawing and polishing, before the handle is added to it," Kohli explained.

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