Used us for commercial gain: Indian hockey teams take Marijne to court for allegations against Manpreet

In
his
upcoming
book
–
‘Will
Power
–
The
Inside
Story
of
the
Incredible
Turnaround
in
Indian
Women’s
Hockey
–
the
former
Dutch
coach
has
accused
Indian
men’s
hockey
captain
Manpreet
Singh
of
asking
a
young
player
to
underperform
during
the
2018
Commonwealth
Games.

In
the
book,
published
by
HarperCollins,
the
former
coach
wrote
that
the
senior
player
asked
a
player
“to
stop
playing
well”
so
that
his
friends
could
find
a
place
in
the
team.
This
anecdote
did
not
go
down
well
with
the
teams
with
both
the
men’s
and
women’s
teams
issuing
a
joint
statement.
In
the
statement,
both
teams
stated
that
the
former
Indian
coach
levelled
allegations
against
the
senior
player
to
publicise
his
book.

“We
have
come
together
to
state
our
deep
disappointment
in
his
(Marijne’s)
exploitation
of
our
personal
information
and
false
accusations.
He
has
used
his
time
of
coaching
us
for
commercial
gain
to
sell
his
book
at
the
cost
of
our
reputations.

“This
is
a
complete
breach
of
trust
and
his
duty
of
care
as
a
coach.
It
also
leads
to
all
Indian
athletes
like
us
to
feel
vulnerable
in
such
situations,”
the
players
said
in
the
joint
statement.
“We
are
in
the
process
of
pursuing
legal
remedies
against
Mr.
Sjoerd
Marijne
and
the
publishers
of
the
book
in
question,
Harper
Collins.”

Both
the
teams
added
that
if
such
a
thing
had
actually
taken
place
then
the
former
coach
should
have
reported
the
matter
to
either
Hockey
India
or
his
erstwhile
employer,
Sports
Authority
of
India,
which
he
didn’t.

“We
would
like
to
collectively
question
Mr
Sjoerd
Marijne,
that
if
any
of
the
claimed
incidence
took
place
under
his
watch
there
should
be
record
of
an
allegation
filed
to
Hockey
India
or
the
Sports
Authority
of
India
at
the
time.

“On
checking
with
the
authorities,
we
have
found
no
such
record
of
complaint,”
the
statement
read.

Both
the
men’s
team
and
women’s
team
are
scaling
great
heights,
and
the
players
added
that
with
the
false
and
fabricated
allegations,
the
former
coach
has
questioned
the
integrity
of
the
players.

“The
Indian
national
men’s
and
women’s
hockey
team
stand
together
with
each
other
and
will
defend
our
integrity
that
has
been
brought
to
question
by
him.
Our
country,
team
and
the
sport
of
hockey
are
our
collective
top
priority
and
under
no
circumstances
will
we
allow
for
the
integrity
of
any
of
our
team
members
to
be
compromised
for
anyone
else’s
personal
gain,”
the
statement
said.

Marijne
coached
the
Indian
men’s
hockey
team
for
nine
months
before
he
was
ousted
following
a
dismal
show
at
the
2018
Commonwealth
Games
at
Gold
Coast.
He
later
took
charge
of
the
women’s
team
and
guided
it
to
a
historic
fourth-place
finish
at
last
year’s
Tokyo
Olympics.

Source:
With
inputs
from
PTI