FIH to take up India’s fixing charge seriously
new delhi — The International Hockey Federation (FIH) will ask hosts England to investigate India’s allegation that attempts were made to “fix” their Hockey World League SemiFinal clash against Pakistan last month.
FIH’s decision came after Hockey India (HI) lodged an official complaint to the world body about the timing of former captain Sardar Singh’s interrogation by Yorkshire police during the HWL SemiFinal in London last month. The interrogation was in relation to a year-old sexual assault case filed by an England international hockey player of Indian origin.
In the letter sent to FIH CEO Jason McCracken on July 5, HI president Mariamma Koshy referred to a June 19 incident where, acting on a complaint filed by an England junior-level hockey player on June 17, Sardar was summoned to Leeds for questioning.
The FIH said it expects the report of the investigation to be out in the next two to three months.
The complaint was lodged with the FIH after Indian team manager Jugraj Singh asked HI to take up the matter seriously with the FIH in his post-tournament report.
An HI official said the Leeds police did not follow any protocol while summoning Sardar for questioning, that too in the middle of a tournament.
“Sardar was not there as a tourist. He was representing India as an athlete. The protocol says if you have to investigate any complaint you need to wait till the event is over. How can a player be asked to report to a police station that too 5-6 hours from London in the middle of a tournament?” the HI official said.
“As per protocol, the Indian High Commission should have been informed first but this was not followed. In 2015 this lady had filed a similar complaint in London. She now again filed the same complaint in Leeds. How can one file the same complaint in two different places,” he questioned. — PTI