The disgruntled national hockey players on Monday continued their indefinite boycott of the World Cup preparatory camp to protest the non-payment of their dues and incentives.
The squad, demanding incentives for their performance in the year gone by, had on Sunday decided to go on strike despite reaching a truce with Hockey India officials in New Delhi just a day before.
"We are not training from this morning. We are waiting for Hockey India officials to arrive. We came to know that Hockey India officials are coming to meet the team. The team will have a meeting with them and let's see what happens," said senior forward Prabhjot Singh, who has been appointed by his teammates as their representative.
"Hopefully, things will be resolved by this evening. If all the boys are satisfied with the outcome, we will end the strike immediately," he added.
Hockey India on Sunday reacted sharply to players' decision with treasurer Narinder Batra accusing them of blackmailing the Federation and holding the nation to ransom.
"It's really shocking. They agreed to our offer yesterday and now they are back on strike. They can't hold a nation to ransom," he said.
Batra claimed HI listened to every grievances of the players and offered a solution too.
“They talked about insurance cover, graded systems and even the alleged poor quality of food they had at the Pune camp. We told them what we can immediately do. We even agreed to compensate for the poor food, arrange a meeting with the sponsor as they demanded and HI president (AK Mattoo) went to the extent of promising them Rs 1 crore each if they win the World Cup. We said we would get the money anyhow for them.”
Compromise with players soon: Hockey India
Hockey India has sought to strike a conciliatory note with its revolting players, saying that the demands put forth by Rajpal Singh and his men were "fair enough" and a compromise would be thrashed out soon.
HI representative Ikram Khan has reached Pune to negotiate with the players boycotting the ongoing World Cup preparatory camp to protest the non-payment of their dues and incentives for their 2009 performances.
HI had on Sunday night accused the players of blackmailing the federation and holding the nation to ransom but Khan offered an olive branch to the players on Monday.
"I think there will be a compromise soon. They will listen to us and I am 100 per cent sure that the matter will be sorted out. I am going to meet the players right now," he said.
"I interacted with them yesterday. They are not satisfied with the incentives and the grade system that we are planning and all this will be worked out soon. The players are very clear about what they want and that is fair enough. The only thing is the timing and how they have gone about it," he added.
Khan, however, insisted that boycotting a national camp was not right way to assert demands.
"They should not have boycotted the camp. They should respect their coaches, after all they are very senior players. They should start their practice and the other process will continue," he said.