WSH organisers accuse HI of threatening players to boycott event

New Delhi: In another big jolt for the proposed World Series Hockey, six more Indian players have decided to withdraw from the lucrative league to appear in the national camp for the Olympics qualifiers. Yesterday, six Indian stars including Bharat Chetri and Sandeep Singh, had written to HI, conveying that they are no longer part of WSH and would appear in the camp in New Delhi. Now six more players — Birender Lakra, Manjeet Kullu, Rupinder Pal Singh, Danish Mujtaba, K Chinglensana Singh and Manprit Singh — have written to HI Secretary Narinder Batra, conveying that they have parted ways with WSH. The organisers of World Series Hockey have accused Hockey India of intimidating the players. They say HI is threatening players to quit the event. [caption id=“attachment_145850” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Six more players — Birender Lakra, Manjeet Kullu, Rupinder Pal Singh, Danish Mujtaba, K Chinglensana Singh and Manprit Singh — have written to HI Secretary Narinder Batra, conveying that they have parted ways with WSH. Reuters”]  [/caption] Meanwhile, a signed letter by the players said, “We are writing to you to advise that we are not playing in the World Series Hockey event and that we will be attending the National Camp in Delhi for the Olympic Qualifiers in Delhi on 11 December until February 2012 and we will be available for selection in the National team for the Olympic qualifiers.” “We signed the contract with World Series Hockey under the impression that WSH will not force us to play and ask us to leave for the national camp. We play for our country and that is a matter of honour and pride for us,” they added. The players still looked interested in taking part in WSH as they also wrote in the letter, “We appeal to World Series Hockey to postpone their tournament after the qualifiers in the national interest.” The league is scheduled to begin from 17 December. The WSH organisers said they have not received any communication from the players in question. “As of now, we have received no withdrawal. All those who have signed up will play. We have not heard anything from the these players,” chief operating officer of Nimbus Sport, Yannick Colaco said. Colaco had also accused Batra of using pressure tactics on Indian players to stop them from taking part in the event. “HI and Mr Batra have been employing all methods to stop players from playing in WSH. In fact, a player told me that Batra is threatening them to withdraw from WSH or else they can’t play for India,” he alleged. “Its unfortunate to see how some people are trying their level best to create an air of uncertainty about the event.” In a release issued later, Colaco said that Nimbus Sport suspected that the supposed letter was a “fabrication or an extortion”. “We have heard about a supposed letter that has been purportedly signed by a few players of the Indian team. We find it extremely odd that players would have chosen to ‘write’ to a third party to withdraw from World Series Hockey, especially since this third party has nothing to do with this historic event. We thus are unable to judge whether this supposed letter is a fabrication or an extortion,” Colaco said. PTI