Times of India: Gurbaj Singh feels hard done by Hockey India again

NEW DELHI: Seasoned midfielder Gurbaj Singh, who successfully took legal route to get his nine-month ban overturned, has hit out at Hockey India again for not giving him an opportunity to play in the fourth season of Hockey India League (HIL) next year.

Gurbaj, whose ban for alleged groupism in the Indian team was revoked in October, feels HI has unfairly excluded him from the list of reserve 182 players for the HIL.

“I understand I was not included in the September HIL auction because my ban was still valid. I understand they cannot do the auction all over again for me but they (HI) should have included me in the HIL reserve list. That way any of the teams could have picked me up if a player was injured. It is simply unfair,” Gurbaj, a veteran of 200 plus international caps, told PTI.

HI chief Narinder Batra however refuted Gurbaj’s claims.

“We are not sidelining him. If that was the case, we would not have invited him for the Indian team’s camp for the South Asian Games (SAF),” said Batra of the event to be held in India in February.

The two-time World Cupper further argued his exclusion saying: “I am ready to play for India anytime and I have already written to HI on my availability for the SAF Games. But I would like to play with the best of the world players in HIL to stake a claim for a national comeback rather than play in SAF Games where India are set to field a second string squad. It is disheartening. It is better that they tell me that I am not in their scheme of things anymore than doing all this,” lamented the 27-year-old, who once made a return to the national team post his impressive performance in the 2014 edition of HIL.

In October, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had quashed HI’s decision to ban the senior player for nine months. The court had said the decision was “patently illegal” and not commensurate with the allegations of creating disharmony and groupism within the team.

The HI then was forced to lift the ban in the wake of the High Court order.