Former players smell “conspiracy” behind Shivendra’s suspension

Former India players smelt a rat behind Shivendra Singh’s three-match suspension, alleging that it was done intentionally to weaken the hosts ahead of their second match against Australia in New Delhi tomorrow.

The International Hockey Federation (FIH) tournament director Ken Read, who himself is an Australian, slapped Shivendra with a three-match suspension for deliberately hitting a Pakistani player last night even though the Zeeshan Ashraf-led side did not bring the incident to the notice of the world body.

Former India captain Zafar Iqbal criticised the decision and said such unfair rulings were not surprising for the sub-continent teams.

“It was a very harsh decision and I don’t know on what basis they have given it. There was hardly any protest by the Pakistani players. The suspension for three matches is a big blow to India,” Zafar told PTI.

“It was not such a big matter, it was part of the game. The match between England and Australia was also very tough and witnessed such incident. The umpire himself has not seen it even though he was very close.

“We Asian countries always have to go thorough such incidents, there is no doubt about it. They always think that we deliberately do it,” he said.