Rajpal Singh slams exclusion from squad

NEW DELHI: In September last year, he led the Indian team to the title in the first Asian Champions Trophy hockey tournament. Four months later, star striker Rajpal Singh has been left wondering over the reasons for his omission from the national squad for next month’s all-important Olympic qualifiers.

“I don’t know if it’s because of performance or fitness. I have no idea as to why I have been left out,” Rajpal told TOI a day after an 18-member squad for the qualifiers was announced.

During the series against South Africa earlier this month, coach Michael Nobbs had suggested that Rajpal was unlikely to make the cut on fitness ground. “If fitness is the case, how come I was training with other probables and played a match against an international side (the first ‘test’ against South Africa),” he asked. “I was neither told to work on my fitness nor was asked to undergo a fitness test. Even now I am ready to undergo a fitness test.”

Rajpal had underwent a surgery for appendicitis in October last year and subsequently joined the national camp after recovering.

Hockey India’s contention that the team was selected on the basis of performance in the five-match India-SA series did not go down well with Rajpal. “If people are saying that performance in the series was the criteria, then there are players who did not play in the series and are straightaway picked for the qualifiers,” he said in an obvious reference to fellow forward Gurvinder Singh Chandi who served out his five-match ban during the series and did not play a single match.

Chandi was banned for his role in an ill-tempered match against Pakistan in Australia in October. Arjun Halappa and VS Vinay who were picked in the main team and kept as standbys, are reportedly mulling retirement over the ‘snub’.