Hockey India backs Rajpal as captain

RAJPAL Singh will remain the captain of the Indian hockey team during the World Cup and players and management should focus on the challenges ahead, Hockey India ( HI) said on Tuesday.

The choice of Rajpal as skipper has given rise to speculation with many suggesting that chief coach Jose Brasa and most of the players were in favour of Prabhjot Singh being captain.

But HI secretary general Narinder Batra said there would be no change in captaincy.

“ As far as we are concerned, the matter is closed.

Rajpal will lead the Indian team at the World Cup,” Batra told M AIL T ODAY . The selectors were unanimous in their choice and there was no reason to challenge their opinion, according to Batra. “ They are all Olympians and know their job.

They recommended that Rajpal be retained as captain for the sake of continuity. A change in captaincy before an important tournament like the World Cup would not have been ideal,” Batra said.

When asked whether Brasa wanted Prabhjot to lead India, Batra said: “ If that was the case, he never told me.

“ Rajpal was the captain during the Champions Challenge in Argentina in December. At that time, it was Brasa who recommended him and he did quite a good job. Why would he want a change now?” Interestingly, before the official announcement of the squad, there was talk of Prabhjot being named skipper with four others — Rajpal, Adrian D’Souza, Deepak Thakur and Arjun Halappa — as vice- captains.