Hockey players lay demands before HI, seek national support

Zeenews Bureau

Pune: The Indian hockey players have decided to lay out three major demands in front of the Hockey India officials, amongst which, the foremost demand is to be paid with their entire dues, along with the incentives. The players are currently in talks with the HI president AK Mattoo, International Hockey Federation (FIH) vice president Antonio von Ondarza and other officials to resolve the crisis that has gripped the national sport just ahead of the World Cup. Prabhjot Singh, a senior player representing the Indian hockey team, said ahead of the meeting that there are three basic demands of the players which they want HI to meet; primarily, they want the authorities to clear their dues and incentives. In case they fail to do that, then secondly, they would like to meet the main sponsors of the team- the Sahara Group, for further discussions. And finally, the players want a gradation system to be introduced in the sport.And last but not the least, if all the talks fail and in case all the players are banned from playing further, Prabhjot said, that then it is for “the people of the country to decide our fate”. The Indian hockey team is currently on a strike and has boycotted the World Cup preparatory camp because of their unpaid salaries for the year 2009. The HI had given a 24-hour ultimatum to the players on Monday to rejoin the camp, a failure to which will result in strict disciplinary action against the team. The players, on the contrary, refuse to have been given any deadline and have decided to not budge from their stand.