New Delhi: Former India players, Prabhjot Singh and Gagan Ajit Singh, on Wednesday said that the stand-off between Hockey India (HI) and the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) was not helping the cause of the players and the sport and HI should not have barred the probables, named for the national camp, to play in the inaugural World Series Hockey tournament (WSH).
"HI should not have imposed any restriction on the national players to participate in the WSH. The tussle between the two federations should come to an end as it's the players who are suffering because of it," said Prabhjot.
"Whatever the problem between the federations, it should not affect the players," said Gagan.
Prabhot said that had the current Indian stars been allowed to feature in WSH, the game could have become more popular.
"WSH is all about promoting the game and it's the players who have to take steps to promote hockey through such initiatives. It's the biggest hockey event happening in the world where the best international players are participating. It's helping the players financially."
"If you look at the Indian Premier League (IPL), the players were allowed to participate in the event resulting in its massive popularity. If national players are allowed to participate in the WSH, I am sure that one day it would be able to match the popularity of the IPL," said Prabhjot.
Prabhjot has linked up with former Junior World Cup winning team-mates Deepak Thakur and Gagan Ajit for Sher-E-Punjab in the ongoing WSH and is here to play in the away match against the Delhi Wizards on Friday.
The Athens Olympian was of the view that even in the absence of national players, the tournament has received good crowd support.
"Barring some venues, people are coming to watch the action live. The series is going on well and we are getting good public support. The matches have become exciting and good crowd response is there," said the Sher-E-Punjab skipper.
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