We were just good friends: Sardar

Chandigarh, February 4
Sardar Singh has again refuted the allegations of sexual harassment made against him by an Indian-origin British hockey player. The woman also claims that she and Sardar were engaged to get married, but that the Indian captain reneged on this promise.
The woman, a former England U-19 hockey player, had on Tuesday filed a complaint in Ludhiana, alleging that Sardar had “mentally, physically and emotionally tortured” her. She claimed that she got pregnant with his child but Sardar persuaded her to undergo an abortion and later “abandoned” her.
But Sardar, in his first planned interaction with the media since the controversy broke out, categorically refuted all the charges. Not only did he deny ever being engaged to the woman, he went on to say that the two were “just good friends” and never a romantic couple.
‘Just good friends’
During the press briefing, Sardar repeatedly denied having sexually assaulted the woman or having forced her to have an abortion. “I have not seen the (police) report as yet. As soon as I get the report I will decide on my next action. All the allegations made by her are completely untrue,” Sardar said.
Sardar admitted knowing the woman from before the 2012 London Olympics. He also said that she had visited his home but the two were never engaged. “I met her before the 2012 London Olympics on Facebook. We were good friends, she used to visit during the tournaments too,” Sardar said. “I had informed all the coaches about it.”
He denied ever having a romantic relationship with the woman. Asked about all the evidence — photographs of the two, posts on twitter — on their social media accounts, Sardar accused the woman of misusing his accounts. “My email accounts used to be with my friends but last time when I was playing in Spain, she took all the passwords from my friends,” Sardar said. “She used to tweet from my account and then re-tweet it from her account. She had tweeted from my account that we’d be getting married soon. In the last two to three years, I haven’t been using my social media accounts.”
Sardar usually comes to the media interaction room at the Sector 42 hockey stadium to discuss the game. Today, however, it was a different scenario, but he said he is focussing on the HIL, and that he doesn’t wish to be distracted as he’s preparing hard for the Rio Olympics.
To drive in his point, right after the media interaction, Sardar went straight to the field. He practised for over 15 minutes in what was probably a show put up for the benefit of the mediapersons.
No branding
Till recently, Sardar had been the poster boy of Hockey India. But today, before he came out with his side of the story, Hockey India symbolically distanced itself from the controversy. Minutes before he was to address the media, the posters with HI branding and logos of sponsors behind the dais were covered with white and black sheets of cloth. It was unfortunate that Sardar entered the conference hall with a hockey stick — but he was flanked by lawyers on both sides.