Indian hockey plunged into a fresh crisis on Friday with revolting players boycotting the ongoing World Cup preparatory camp here for an indefinite period in protest against non-payment of their dues.There was a fresh uprising amongst the national hockey players, who have decided to boycott the ongoing camp in Pune to protest against the non-payment of sponsorship money, match fees and bonuses.
The players took the extreme step after Hockey India failed to respond to two letters asking the authorities to pay up.

“We have decided to boycott the camp indefinitely till we are paid our money. We took the decision in a meeting of players last night,” skipper Rajpal Singh said.

The team, who are in preparation for the World Cup at Pune’s Balewadi Complex under chief coach Jose Brasa, decided to boycott the camp until the issue is resolved.

It also transpires that the players are upset as no dues have reached them despite team jersey sponsors Sahara India paying up part of their dues to Hockey India. None of this has been passed on to those who take the field and the squad now say they will not wear the logo unless they are paid.

A group of senior players had revolted in November last year to protest against the training methods of coach Brasa ahead of the Champions Challenge event in Salta, Argentina. The matter was however amicably resolved.

HI president Ashok Kumar Mattoo said he would meet the players to find out their demands.

“I got the letter only on Wednesday. The letter is vague and it is not clear what they want,” Mattoo said. “So I have called the national coach (Harendra Singh) and some senior boy for a meeting here tomorrow to discuss the issue. Let me understand what exactly they want. Only after hearing them out, I will be in a position to think of remedial measures,” he said. Six of the seniors — Raj pal, Sardara Singh, Prabhjot Singh, Sandeep Singh, Tushar Khandekar and Arjun Halappa — will be in Delhi on Saturday for a pro motional shoot and are expected to meet the HI offis cials to sort out the payment issue.

The players said that on the previous occasions they were paid in advance but this time the fee has not been paid even after the con clusion of the tournament.