Rajpal Singh faces WSH ire

Former hockey skipper set to get show cause notice for breaching contract

Former hockey skipper set to get show cause notice for breaching contractu00a0

Former India hockey captain and senior player, Rajpal Singh seems to have landed himself in a spot of bother with his recent reported remarks that the inaugural World Series Hockey, to be played across eight cities in India (Dec 17-Jan 22), could be a distraction for the national team focussing on the Olympic Qualifiers.

In trouble: Rajpal Singh. Pic/Subhash Barolia

Organisers of the franchise-based league that has signed up some of the world's top hockey stars besides a host of Indian national team members (Rajpal included) have decided to issue the veteran forward a show cause notice for his "unwarranted comments."

Rajpal, who led India at the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games followed by the FIH World Cup, also indirectly advised players against participating in WSH by saying 'players need to decide whether money is more important than representing the country in Olympics'. This has obviously irked WSH organisers.

"We will be sending Rajpal Singh a show cause notice for breach of confidentiality and disrepute," a member of the organising committee of the WSH told MiD DAY yesterday. "It's really surprising to learn that he said something like this, especially since he was one of the first set of players to sign up for the league nearly a year ago in January.

"He has signed a Grade A+ contract along with nine other senior players of the Indian team. They have been offered Rs 10 lakh of which a signing amount of Rs 1 lakh has already been paid," added the source.

Meanwhile Rajpal, who is currently recuperating from an appendicitis surgery he underwent during India's tour of Australia recently, is unfazed by the whole episode. "I will reply to the notice once I receive it," he told MiD DAY.

However, he made his intentions of not taking part in the WSH quite clear. "I've undergone surgery on October 31 and the doctors have advised four to six weeks rest. So, even if I start training in the beginning of December, I don't think I will be fit enough to play in the WSH," he said.