Pargat crosses swords with Hockey India over Gurbaj ban

Rachna Khaira

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, October 12

Hockey Punjab president Pargat Singh today spoke out in support of Gurbaj Singh, saying that the nine-month ban imposed on the midfielder by Hockey India (HI) was extremely harsh.

The former India captain said that the move to ban Gurbaj seemed to have a hidden agenda. “In the past, when HI had banned players, like Sardar Singh and Sandeep Singh, it had lifted the ban within no time. Then what has stopped them from lifting it this time?” said Pargat.

He said that the nine-month ban would prove disastrous for Gurbaj’s career apart from affecting the performance of the Indian team at the Rio Olympics. Pargat also accused HI president Narinder Batra of mismanagement of affairs. “There has been a complete mismanagement of affairs in HI. It has changed six coaches in just five years,” said Pargat.

He also accused HI of not allowing the Punjab to hold a six-nation tournament that the state association had been demanding for long. He said that whenever they had approached HI with the request, it was rejected.

Batra refused to comment on the Gurbaj issue as the matter is in the High Court. Batra said that he would respond to all the queries in the court at the next hearing. However, he accused Pargat of initiating politics over the issue. “Since the matter is in the court, he should not interfere in it,” said Batra.

While refuting charges of not granting a six-nation tournament to the state, Batra said that though he had sanctioned the tournament twice to Punjab, Hockey Punjab had failed to get the funds released from the state government. “Despite granting the tournament twice to Punjab, Hockey Punjab could not hold it due to a paucity of funds. I had to cancel the tournaments sanctioned to Punjab and instead had to allocate these to other states,” said Batra. He also said that HI had also not released any grant to Hockey Punjab in the last three years as the state body had failed to submit the balance sheets.

When told about Batra’s comments, Pargat accused the HI president of lying. He said that Batra should present the documents which say that Punjab was granted the tournaments.

He added that Hockey Punjab had not asked for any grant in the last three years.