‘Rebel’ players allowed to join camp
An uneasy normalcy reigned in the Indian hockey camp at the Bangalore on Wednesday with the rebel hockey players joining training after being provisionally allowed by Hockey India pending a final decision by its disciplinary committee. Though the players participated in the various drills, both
the players and coaching staff is anxious about the show cause notice served on them after the administrators decided to work together.
The players have been advised not to reply to the show cause notice but are worried by a clause in the notice that says that failure to respond to the notice in time would be taken as admission of guilt by them. On Wednesday, the players kept away from the media so as not to add fuel to the fire.
Meanwhile, the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) has taken up the matter with the sports ministry regarding the show cause notice and its president RK Shetty said he has been told that the players would be included in the next phase of the camp.
IHF has also taken strong exception to reported comments by team’s fitness expert David Young that the five errant players have fallen back in preparations (in the six days that they missed training) and may miss the Asian Champions Trophy in September.