Gurbaj Singh dropped from the Indian team for their tour to Europe
Gurbaj Singh has been omitted from the Indian squad that is scheduled to tour Europe between July 31st and August 14th. The 26-year-old had apparently misbehaved with the Indian coaches as per reports submitted by the coaches and manager.
The nine-member Special Committee, which was appointed by Hockey India and consists of some eminent names like V Bhaskaran, A B Subbaiah among others had found the midfielder to be disrupting the team unity and harmony and had also found him to be not versatile enough to play in different positions to suit the team’s requirements.
"The committee has recommended disciplinary action against Gurbaj based on the reports submitted by the coaches and manager. He is accused of misbehaving with the coaches. In the past as well, such charges were brought against him during the 2012 London Olympics," A Hockey India source had told PTI on Friday.
“Serious questions were raised on Gurbaj's attitude. He is also accused of groupism," he added.
Gurbaj played his 200th game for India during the recent Hockey World Leaguer semifinals that were held in Belgium and was part of the Indian team that won the silver medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow last year.
The midfielder will be called for a hearing ahead of the next camp in September.
Meanwhile in the rest of the squad, SV Sunil and VR Raghunath, both returned after missing the Hockey world League semifinals and in a surprise inclusion, Danish Mujtaba was also included in the squad.
Here the full set of players who will be travelling:
Goalkeepers: PR Sreejesh, Harjot Singh
Midfielders: Sardar Singh, Chinglensana Singh, SK Uthappa, Satbir Singh, Danish Mujtaba, Devinder Walmiki
Defenders: Birendra Lakra, Kothajit Singh, VR Raghunath, Jasjit Singh, Rupinder Pal Singh, Gurjinder Singh
Forwards: SV Sunil, Ramandeep Singh, Akashdeep Singh, Mandeep Singh, Talwinder Singh, Lalit Upadhyay, Mohd. Amir Khan
India open their tour against France on August 3rd.