By IANS,
New Delhi : Hockey India (HI) president Ashok Kumar Mattoo’s assertion in Pune that Rajpal Singh was not the choice of selectors for captaincy is factually correct — but an HI release clearly mentioned the striker as captain for the Champions Challenge tournament in Argentina.
It now transpires that the team list signed by the selectors only had the names of the players and someone at HI named Rajpal captain. It is now clear that HI did it on the advice of chief coach Jose Brasa.
HI now realises that the team would be hard hit without Sandeep who is out of the national camp with a back injury and the coach stated that the doctors pronounced the drag-flicker is out of not only the Champions Challenge but also the World Cup.
Mattoo said the captain for the tournament in still to be finalised.
“There is still some time left for the tournament and we will decide on the captaincy in a few days,” Mattoo told reporters here Friday.
Mattoo also said the drag flicker should be playing in the World Cup and is also a possibility for the Champions Challenge after going through the routine fitness test.
“Sandeep will play in the World Cup. How can you say he can’t play in the World Cup three months before the tournament. He has recovered and he will play in the Champions Challenge subject to clearing his fitness test,” he added.
Mattoo, who came back from Pune Friday after bringing a truce between the senior players and the coach in the ongoing camp, said that captaincy was never an issue.
“The issue was lack of communication between Brasa, the players and the support staff.”