IHF wants HI to drop show-cause notices to players

NEW DELHI: Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) president RK Shetty expressed hope that Hockey India (HI) will stand by its word and not penalise the five senior players for attending a promotional event of World Series Hockey (WSH).

The five players – captain Arjun Halappa, Sardar Singh, Prabhjot Singh, Adrian D’Souza and Sandeep Singh – attended the press conference of WSH, organised by IHF, in Mumbai last week (July 22).

Since then, HI kept them out of the ongoing national camp in Bangalore and allowed them to rejoin only Tuesday, but after slapping them with a show-cause notice. They have been asked to send their replies to the disciplinary committee chairman Pargat Singh, who has publicly rebuked the players for leaving the national camp without permission.

The players might have hoped they would get reprieve from the newly formed joint executive board and working committee of the HI and IHF.

Shetty said that the issue of the five players was discussed at the meeting and HI “agreed” not to penalise them.

“One of the issues discussed at the meeting was about the five players and it was agreed that no action will be taken against them. When the players called me yesterday to say that they are still to be taken back by the camp authorities, I immediately called the joint secretary in the sports ministry (Injeti Srinivas), who was present at the meeting. He promised to sort the matter out,” Shetty said.

What’s the harm in the players attending the press conference, after all they were only promoting hockey, Shetty observed.