HI fumes as star players skip camp

Uthra G Chaturvedi

Just when it seemed the long-drawn tussle in Indian hockey was on the verge of an amicable solution, relations between the two factions have strained further. And this time, the players have added fuel to the fire.

The sports ministry has called a meeting on July 25 between the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) and Hockey India (HI) to thrash out the merger issue but the IHF went ahead with its announcement of the World Series Hockey (WSH) on Thursday. It included the dates for the proposed league and unveiling of captains for the eight teams. Four of those are Indians — Adrian D’Souza, Arjun Halappa, Prabhjot Singh, Sardar Singh — and their presence along with Sandeep Singh at the event launch has raised Hockey India’s hackles — more so, since they did not have permission to leave the ongoing national camp in Bangalore.

HI secretary general Narinder Batra said the issue will be raised during Monday’s meeting. “On one hand, we are not supposed to take any action against players who turn out for any IHF event. On the other, they take players out of national camp for a promotional event without permission. There will be a one-week break soon and this could have taken place then,” he said. Batra added that technical committee chairman Pargat Singh will decide if any sanctions will be imposed on the erring players.

Pargat, when contacted, admitted he was upset with the attitude of the players. “I will be meeting HI and ministry officials on Friday and give my recommendation. It is condemnable what they did and my personal opinion is that strictest action should be taken against them. The final say will be with the ministry and HI executive board,” he said.

Out of the camp?

According to sources, the five players are likely to be asked to leave the ongoing camp and, as an extreme measure, can also be omitted from the core group of 48 for the Olympic qualifiers and the 2012 Games. The five are all key members of the Indian set-up and being out of the core group may well mean end of their international careers.

Camp sources confirmed that camp in-charge SS Grewal had been told about the trip but had not okayed it. “No one in the camp was told about it. Grewal was informed last night but he said he needed to talk to HI. The rest got to know only in the morning when they did not turn up for practice,” sources said.

On their part, the players insisted that since they had already signed up with the WSH, they were bound to appear for them. “The administrative mess is not our doing. Why should players suffer? We had already signed with WSH and it was our duty to be here. We know action can be taken against us but will know only when we get back to Bangalore,” they said.