India say no to hockey with Pak, pull out of Johor Cup again

New Delhi, India have again said no to hockey in Malaysia because Hockey India (HI) does not wish the Indian team to play Pakistan, mainly due to the bad behaviour of Pakistani players at the 2014 Champions Trophy in Bhubaneswar.
Thus, for the second successive year, India won’t take part in the Sultan of Johor Cup in Malaysia, citing Pakistan’s presence in the October 22-29 invitational tournament. India had won the tournament in 2013 and 2014, and finished runners-up in 2015.
HI stuck to its stand of not playing Pakistan in a non-International Hockey Federation (FIH) event until Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) tendered an unconditional apology for its players’ disgraceful behaviour in Bhubaneswar in 2014.
No obligation
Since Sultan of Johor Cup, an Under-21 competition, is an invitational tournament and is not organised under the aegis of FIH or any continental body, HI was under no obligation to send its team to the week-long event.
“By not fielding the Indian team at the Sultan of Johor Cup, we have stood our ground to not take part in any series against Pakistan until they submit an unconditional apology for what happened in 2014,” HI spokesperson RP Singh said.
HI says it and the players have moved on from the controversial incident during the Champions Trophy, when Pakistani players had made obscene gestures towards the crowd after their 4-3 semifinal win over India. HI says it was the recent allegations by PHF ahead of the 2016 Junior World Cup in Lucknow that resulted in India pulling out of the Sultan of Johor Cup.
PHF allegations
PHF had alleged that India didn’t want Pakistan to participate in the Junior World Cup. In fact, PHF had rejected FIH’s contention that Pakistan were excluded from the tournament because FIH had not received the travel documents of Pakistani players by the deadline.
Today, HI again stated that it was PHF which had failed to adhere to the deadlines for the submission of its players’ visas applications. India’s Ministry of Home Affairs guidelines necessitate that the citizens of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Sudan and stateless persons must submit their visa applications 60 days prior to a tournament to avoid rejection.
“We had not brought up the bad behaviour on the part of Pakistan during the Champions Trophy for a very long time,” Singh said today. Singh said that it was PHF which again levelled baseless allegations against HI to “hide their own incompetency”. “It’s about time PHF takes responsibility for its incapability,” Singh added.