Hockey players finally agree to join national camp

National hockey players responded to the call of Bangladesh Hockey Federation president Air Marshal Enamul Bari as they agreed to join the national camp after both parties sat for a meeting yesterday. Meanwhile, the federation, in a Governing Body meeting yesterday, decided not to appoint Maharaj Krishan Kaushik as the national hockey coach and said it has started correspondence with Rajinder Singh for the job.  A total of 23 national players were present in the meeting that started at 11:15am and finished at 12:30pm. “I asked the players to join the national hockey camp form June 10 and I am hopeful they will do accordingly. They have agreed to start training for the Asia Cup,” said Bari. National hockey skipper Jahid Hossain echoed the same tune. “We sat with the president. He is our guardian and he has asked us to join the camp. He listened to all our complaints and demands and assured that in his own authority he will take the initiatives to seal a conclusion. We are convinced and we intend to join the national camp now,” said Jahid. Jahid said the problem would not have intensified to the current level if the players were allowed to sit  with the president earlier. “The meeting took place after almost two weeks from the time we boycotted the camp. We have been waiting for the occasion, but failed to get any opportunity. I admit the preparation has been affected with the delay of the camp,” Jahid added. Later, the Governing Body meeting presided over by Enamul Bari decided to concentrate on the former Indian hockey coach Rajinder Singh as the probable national coach of Bangladesh hockey team. “As Maharaj Krishan Kaushik was involved with some controversy, though he has been cleared, we decided to stop correspondence with him. We now have Rajinder Singh, Harendra Singh and Navid Alam. Rajinder and Harendra have asked for a remuneration of $3,000 and $4,000 respectively while Pakistani Navid has asked for $5,000. sSo we have started communication with Rajinder,” revealed Khwaja Rahmatullah. The meeting also decided to lift the ban of national hockey player Imran Hasan Pintu and impose a fine of Tk100,000 on him. Pintu has to pay the fine to the federation to lift his five-year ban which would instantly allow him to take part in the national team camp as well as in the players transfer.  Pintu was handed the ban after he assaulted an umpire during the last national hockey championship. The same verdict was also given for Shahidullah Khokon, who was also involved in the same incident  with Pintu.