Hockey players forced to end strike

Prominent members of the Indian hockey team, who were in the capital on Saturday for a sponsors’ function, spent considerably more time with officials of Hockey India (HI) to sort out the issue related to payments which led to a boycott of a national camp in Pune.

At the end of a hectic day of parleys, hockey officials managed to convince players to resume practice, purportedly without committing on the monetary aspects that led to the mini revolt.

“The matter has been amicably resolved with officials. We are going back to Pune to resume our preparations for the World Cup,” said captain Rajpal Singh, while refusing to reveal what the arrangement regarding payments was.

HI chief AK Mattoo too did not want to discuss how the compromise was worked out, amid speculation that officials had managed to put pressure through various players’ employers. Rajpal, along with Sandeep Singh and Prabhjot Singh was among those to first attend a small function at the Hero Honda (sponsors for the upcoming World Cup in New Delhi) stall at the Auto-Expo at Pragati Maidan, before making it for the meeting at a prominent five-star hotel.

At the Auto-Expo, all Prabhjot would indicate was that the players were very serious about the issue and that it had to be sorted out at the earliest. This is not the first time that Indian hockey officials have been in the midst of a controversy.

There has been criticism of their manner of putting a unit in place for upcoming elections, which will now not be held on January 29 as was earlier planned, because of a delay in the commencement of its process.