Hockey India Suspends 11 Players, Team Officials After Violence In Nehru Cup Final

Hockey India Disciplinary Committee on Tuesday suspended 11 players and two team officials for their respective roles in the recent violence that broke out during the 56th Nehru Cup finals between Punjab Armed Police and Punjab National Bank. The Players of the two teams had exchanged blows and fought with sticks inside the turf during the Nehru Cup finals last month, forcing Hockey India to seek a detailed report from the tournament organisers.

After reviewing the report and viewing the video evidence, the committee, chaired by Hockey India Vice President Bhola Nath Singh, unanimously decided to suspend players from Punjab Armed Police and Punjab National Bank for a period of 12-18 months and 6-12 months respectively.

"The Committee placed Punjab Armed Police players Hardeep Singh and Jaskaran Singh under an 18 months suspension while Dupinderdeep Singh, Jagmeet Singh, Sukhpreet Singh, Sarvanjit Singh and Balwinder Singh have been suspended for 12 months with effect from 11 December 2019 for their involvement in the Level 3 offence under Hockey India/ Hockey India League Code of Conduct," Hockey India said in a release.

"Punjab Armed Police Team Manager Amit Sandhu was suspended for 18 months for a Level 3 offence and it was also recommended that the Punjab Police Team be placed under three months suspension and not be eligible to play in any of the All India Tournaments with effect from 10 March 2020 to 9 June 2020 (following the expiry of their suspension due to participation in an unsanctioned tournament)."

Players from Punjab National Bank Sukhjeet Singh, Gursimran Singh and Sumit Toppo have been suspended for 12 months, while the team skipper Jasbir Singh has been suspended for six months.

The Punjab National Bank team manager Sushil Kumar Dubey too has been suspended for six months due to his team's inability to follow the Code of Conduct and sanctions.

It was also recommended that the Punjab National Bank Team be placed under three months suspension and not be eligible to play in any of the All India Tournaments with effect from December 11 to March 10.

It was also unanimously agreed by the committee that all the above players would be on further probation for a period of 24 months after the expiry of their sanctions and any breaches of the Code of Conduct would constitute an immediate Level 3 offence and the individual will automatically be suspended for two years.

On Monday, the Committee had unanimously decided to suspend players from Hockey Rajnandgaon and Hockey Bilaspur following the on-ground violence during the 4th Chhattisgarh Senior Men State Championship.

Hockey Rajnandgaon captain Mithlesh Pandiya has been placed under three months suspension, while Sandeep Yadav, Taufik Ahmad, Sukhdev Niramalkar have been suspended for nine months.

Rajesh Nirmalkar (who also officiated as umpire) was let-off with a warning for playing and officiating in the same tournament, while Sabbir Solanki, team manager of Hockey Rajnandgaon, was placed under 3 months suspension for a Level 2 offence with effect from December 10.

Bilaspur skipper Omkar Yadav and team manager Ikhlak Ali have been suspended for three months for committing Level 2 offence, while Louis Tirkey has been suspended for six months as he committed a Level 3 offence.

Tournament Director Kishore Dihwar too was punished with a three months suspension for failing to perform his duties, while umpire Shakeel Ahmad was banned for a year.

Further it was unanimously agreed that all the above involved players, officials and state member unit would be on probation for a year after the expiry of their sanctions and any breaches of the Code of Conduct would constitute an immediate Level 3 offence and the individual will automatically be suspended for a period of 12 months.

In another hearing, the Committee issued a warning against Hockey Jammu and Kashmir for violating Hockey India's Policy on sanctioned and unsanctioned tournaments by conducting the Sarbat Daa Bhalaa tournament in the state from October 20 to 26.

All the teams and coaches who took part in the Sarbat Daa Bhalaa tournament too faced the brunt of a 3 months sanction, while the officials have been handed six months sanction under the FIH/Hockey India Policy for Sanctioned and Unsanctioned Tournaments.