HI serves show-cause notices on five ‘rebels’
BANGALORE: Hockey India on Tuesday issued show-cause notices to the five players – Adrian D’Souza, Arjun Halappa, Sandeep Singh, Sardar Singh and Prabhjot Singh – who left the national camp here on July 20 without permission to attend the World Series Hockey function in Mumbai.
The players have been given time till August 2 to reply. They have also been given provisional permission to train at the camp – small mercy, by any yardstick – as they get to return to the routine after six days. “They will be training with the other players from Wednesday,” said camp in-charge SS Grewal, who informed them of the show-cause notices on Tuesday evening.
The camp ends on July 31.
In its notice, HI termed the players’ Mumbai visit as “an act of gross indiscipline, particularly at a time when all efforts are being made by the government, SAI and HI for the preparation of the national team for the Olympic qualifier and other international tournaments”.
The notices also remind some of the players of their transgressions in the past. Sandeep and Sardar have come in for further flak in their notices as they had been warned earlier for having preferred the league in Belgium to India’s preparations for the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup.
“…You faced the disciplinary committee on June 29, 2011 for participation in an overseas competition without taking prior permission from Hockey India. You submitted a written undertaking stating: ‘in this regard it is prayed that the same will not be repeated and I will not participate in any international hockey event without the permission of Hockey India and I would try my best to retain and restore the pride of my motherland India’,” the notice said.
Though the players have been asked to email their replies to chairman of HI’s disciplinary committee Pargat Singh, the former India captain stated that he would like to meet them personally and discuss the issue.