Rajpal says no to Olympic qualifiers

Indian hockey has always lots of surprises in store as they received a latest setback that too before the crucial Beijing Olympic hockey qualifiers with team’s main striker Rajpal Singh has decided not to take part in the upcoming tournament that is to be held at Santiago (Chile) from March 1.

India’s preparations for the all-important tournament received a huge jolt after experienced right-winger decided not to play.

•   E-mail Article
•   Printer Friendly
•   Text-Size    

Rajpal has been a key member of the Indian team and had played a pivotal role in India’s victory in several international matches in past.

The disclosure came from Rajpal when he told news channel over phone from Perth in Australia, where Indian team has been practising prior to their qualifiers, “I have taken the decision to miss out the Olympic qualifiers due to some reasons which I will reveal afterwards.”

There is a strong buzz in the air that the Chandigarh based forward has an altercation with the national coach Joaquim Carvalho. He also said that there is someone above us who decides our career.

Rajpal led the Chandigarh Dynamos team in all the four editions of the Premier Hockey League (PHL), and also had been in good form off late. Rajpal scored three goals in four matches of the just concluded five-match India-Belgium series.

Though Rajpal hasn’t informed about his decision to IHF but he had already told his family and they are fully backing him up. “I will inform IHF on Wednesday, however, I have told my family and I have their full support, ” Rajpal informed the channel.

IHF has selected as many as 24 probables for the qualifiers including Rajpal who is the lone expert right-winger in the squad. India will start their Beijing qualifying campaign against Russia on March 1. Great Britain, Mexico, Chile and Austria are the other teams in the pool.