The players said that they were not mentally prepared to be a part of the team and they are quitting camp due to personal reasons. Personal reasons or not , the absence of India’s only defending player will cause headache to the team management.
V Raghunath and Vikas Kumar have replaced Sandeep and Sardara in the team and the responsibility of saving goals for India will rest on them. V Raghunath last represented Indian team in 2010 SAF Games where he scored just 8 goals. Sandeep Singh’s place will be taken by V Raghunath (one PC expert replacing other). But the shocking part is Vikas Kumar a midfielder along with Sarvanjit Singh, striker will be taking place of India’s best defender Sardara Singh. How can the team management replace a defender by a striker or a midfielder and that too India’s best and only defender whom team can bank upon?
With Sandeep and Sardara quitting Indian team is in deep trouble and there seems no light at the end of the tunnel. Michael Nobbs who was brought to coach the team is already unhappy with the team selected for Asian Champions Trophy will be troubled due to Indian team missing 5 key players for this tournament.
Indian team which was one of the favorites to win Asian Champions Trophy will find it tough to qualify for the medal round with this makeshift team. Indian team are seriously lacking experienced players in this tournament.
With two major tournaments coming up Champions Trophy and Olympic qualifiers, the surfacing of problems between the players and team management will create a World Cup like situation and this time not even Sahara will bail Hockey India out.
