HI removes John from selection panel

NEW DELHI: In more turbulence for Hockey India (HI), the federation on Tuesday decided to remove high performance director David John from the senior selection committee following his ‘biased’ comments in the media regarding several top players. A top HI official also confirmed that John could lose his job too.

“I am not happy with David John commenting on individual players who played in the Asian Games. As a matter of policy and principle, we do not allow discussion on individual players in public domain and John, by discussing that, has broken all protocols,” HI’S newly-elected president Mohd Mushtaque Ahmad said.

In a letter circulated among top HI officials, Ahmad wrote that John will not be a part of the selection panel that will pick the Indian team for the World Cup, which will be held in Bhubaneswar in November-december.

“Observing the bias of David John against a few players of senior men’s team, I have decided that John will not be a part of the senior men’s selection committee for the World Cup. This is to ensure fairness in selection without any prior bias against anyone in anyone’s mind,” said Ahmad.

The Australian reportedly spoke to the media and commented about the players’ performance in recent times. The HI official said that if John had issues with players, he should have told the federation and not gone public.

“This matter should not have gone out in the public until it was told to us. He told the media. Now if you keep him with the players, it is obvious they won’t get along. If he had to say something, he should have told us,” said the official on condition of anonymity.

“It is likely he will be sacked. He spoke against the players. He has not been removed yet but talks are on. He has been asked to submit a clarification.

He has crossed the line. He cannot be a part of the World Cup selection committee otherwise he will not let these players get selected.”

John was hired in November 2016 and his contract runs till the end of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. He is currently touring Argentina as part of the Indian contingent for the Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires.

India has fielded its men’s and women’s teams in hockey 5s competition in the Youth Olympics.

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