The Standpoint

Indian Hockey Team served with deadline

By

Abhishek Mukherjee

India’s revolting hockey players were served with a 24-hour deadline to resume practice or face disciplinary action. The entire squad had begun an indefinite boycott of the World Cup preparatory camp over a payment dispute.

Peeved by the fresh strike, Hockey India, the game's governing body, threatened to crack the whip by warning the players to return to the camp by tomorrow evening, however, the players seemed to be in no mood to relent unless their demands were met.

A top HI source said that the players have been given a 24-hour deadline to return to the camp or face disciplinary action though senior player Prabhjot Singh, who has been appointed by his teammates as their representative for the negotiations, said they had not received any such ultimatum.

“The ultimatum is all hypothetical. Till now we have not received any ultimatum. We were told that HI officials were coming here tonight. Let us see what happens, we are waiting for their arrival”, Prabhjot said.

A high-level HI delegation headed by President A K Mattoo, Harish Sharma, Narender Batra and Jagbir Singh will leave for Pune either tonight or tomorrow morning to hold discussions with the striking players who are demanding their match dues, incentives and a graded payment structure among other things.

“We have communicated our views to them and we are hopeful that the players will see a reason to solve the problem. Antonio (FIH vice-president) will advise us as to what needs to be done in such a situation.” Mattoo told reporters.

While the players went ahead with their threat to stay away from the camp until their dues and incentives were paid, Hockey India too made it clear that boycotting a national camp for pending payments was akin to blackmail.

Frustrated with the turn of events, Mattoo, who had on Saturday night apparently said that all issues had been resolved, threatened the players with suspension if they failed to report to the camp.The players also came under attack from FIH, the game’s world governing body, with its Vice President Antonio von Ondarza saying the players had got their “priorities all wrong.”