India’s start midfielder Gurbaj Singh said on Friday that he would go to court after Hockey India’s executive board decided not to lift his ban.
Charged with misbehavior and groupism in the team and hit with a nine month ban, Gurbaj presented his case and his side of the story to the board but there was no change in their decision. To make matters worse for him, he says that he felt like that it was all pre-planned.
“I have decided to go to court and I am seeking justice for what is being done to me. I explained my points and reasons to the board but they ignored everything I said. Their plan was to stick to their decision and it looked like that,” he said over a telephonic conversation.
In a hearing that lasted 20 minutes, he said that even though he was allowed the time to present his case, the end result was the same.
Gurbaj has already served a month and a half of his ban and is going to sit out the Hockey India league and Hockey World league finals — two big tournaments that would be crucial in preparation for the Olympics next year.
The allegations were made after the HWl semis in Antwerp with members of the staff reporting he would be reluctant to play in certain positions as the coach wanted and would misbehave with junior members of the staff and the team.
This led to a Harbinder Singh led committee slapping a ban on him.
His appeal was heard by HI chief Narinder Batra, CEO Elena Norman, Harbinder and RP Singh amongst other, however, they didn’t find his arguments enough proof to bring him back to the fold.
This isn’t the first time that Gurbaj has had disciplinary issues. Post the london 2012 Olympics debacle, there were reports of his indiscipline which were later cleared after the right winger apologised and assured that such a thing would not happen again.