Indian captain Rajpal Singh reiterated on Wednesday the team’s demand of a monthly salary from Hockey India, along with the cash incentives they were promised after the Champions Challenge tournament in Argentina last month.
Rajpal also confirmed that they had sent a letter to HI in this regard. “Even though the word ‘salary’ is not exactly mentioned in the letter, our main demand is that the players should get a fixed amount from the national federation,” said the skipper.
“We deserve to be paid monthly salaries, and the performance incentives should be a bonus. In the past year, I have played just one tournament for my employers, Indian Oil Corporation and represented the country for the rest of the time. Yet, I have received up to Rs 1 lakh in salary from the IOC and nothing from the federation,” he added.
Rajpal said that the first letter asking for the incentives was sent on November 23 and when HI didn’t revert, the players had to write to them again. Now, he added, the team was running out of patience. “We know that there is a process to be followed for such issues, but this is a big issue for us and we would like a reply as quickly as possible,” he said.
Rajpal though denied reports that the team would pull out of the training camp if their demand was not met by January 8. “We will definitely not pull out of the camp as we are representing the country, but we will definitely take some step.”