IWHF forms panel to look into players' boycott

By K.P. Mohan

NEW DELHI, MAY 6. The Indian Women's Hockey Federation (IWHF) formed a three-member panel on Saturday to look into the `boycott' of the camp by four senior players prior to the Olympic qualifying tournament, eventually leading to India's last-place finish at Milton Keynes, England, in March.

The four players - Sita Gussain, Pritam Rani Siwach, Manjinder Kaur and Sandeep Kaur - had stayed away from the final camp at Patiala, citing domestic reasons. Last-minute efforts by the Federation to persuade at least two of them, Sita and Pritam, to return to the side had failed. In fact, the Federation had kept two additional air tickets ready in the hope of forcing a change of heart in the case of the two key players in the squad, but the wait proved in vain.

The miserable display at Milton Keynes, against all pre- tournament calculations even among international experts, had been a hot topic of debate the past few weeks, leading to a demand for action against the four players.

The IWHF Executive Committee which met here on Saturday debated at length about slapping a minimum three-year suspension on the players, as demanded by some members, before veering around to the view that a fact-finding committee should look into the matter.

Mrs. Mridula Sinha, one of the IWHF vice-presidents, will head the enquiry panel which will have Mr. Vinod Sharma, Secretary, Railway Sports Promotion Board, and Mr. Ramesh Nambiar, of Air India, as its members.

The committee was expected to report back to the Executive in a month's time, according to the IWHF President, Mrs. Vidya Stokes. Asked whether Mr. Sharma's presence in the panel might not lead to an accusation of bias at a later stage, since all the players were from the Railways, Mrs. Stokes pointed out that there was one member from Air India as well as a Federation vice-president from Bihar in the committee.

The dominant mood at Saturday's meeting might have been for the strictest action against the `erring players,' but another section argued strongly while calling for a review of the Federation's own stand which led to such a situation.

It was pointed out that the four senior players, three of them former India captains and one of them an Arjuna Awardee, all of them having served the country with distinction over a number of years, could not have taken such a stand without any reason or provocation at all.

Those demanding the suspension have been alleging that the players had `ganged up' against the coach, G.S. Bhangu, influenced as they were from `outside' by `disgruntled elements'. To them this was sheer `sabotage' (of Olympic qualification) and nothing else.

During a panel discussion on Friday, among coaches and officials, a statement from the former National coach, Mr. Balkishan Singh, was read out, urging the suspension of the players. Coach Bhangu caused a bigger flutter by disclosing that he and his family had been receiving threatening calls prior to, and even after the Milton Keynes tournament.

The mood thus, on the eve of the crucial Executive meeting, was one of reining in the `rebels' and at the same time serving a warning to the rest. The biggest ``let-down'', which led to India being out of the Olympic race, called for nothing less than a three-year suspension, if not a life-ban, argued a section of the coaches and officials.

``We did not want to take any hurried decision though there was a demand for suspension of the players,'' said Mrs. Stokes after Saturday's meeting.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Sport
Previous : India begins campaign against South Africa
Next     : Double crown for China