The disciplinary committee of Hockey India has suspended 11 players for varying number of months along with team officials of Punjab Armed Police and Punjab National Bank for their involvement in an ugly brawl between the 2 sides during the 56th Nehru Senior Hockey Tournament in November. The brawl, which was sparked by a dispute between Punjab Police’s Hardeep and Sumit of Punjab National Bank, left several players injured. on Tuesday a Hockey India release said “The committee placed Punjab Armed Police players Hardeep Singh and Jaskaran under 18 months suspension while Dupinderdeep, Jagmeet, Sukhpreet, Sarvanjit and Balwinder have been suspended for 12 months with effect from December 11 this year for their involvement in the Level 3 offence under Hockey India League Code of Conduct”.

“Punjab Armed Police manager Amit Sandhu has been suspended for 18 months for a Level 3 offence and it was also recommended that the Punjab Police team be placed under three months suspension and not be eligible to play in any of the all-India tournaments with effect from March 10, 2020 to June 9, 2020. Players from Punjab National Bank Sukhjeet, Gursimran and Sumit Toppo have been suspended for 12 months while the team skipper Jasbir Singh has been suspended for six months as the captain is also responsible for the team’s conduct on the field”.

The release said “Punjab National Bank manager Dubey too has been suspended for 6 months due to his team’s inability to follow the Hockey India League Code of Conduct and sanctions”, and also the committee has also recommended Punjab National Bank to be placed “under 3 months suspension, not be eligible to play in any of the all-India tournaments with effect from December 11, this year to March 10, 2020.”

All the players who have been suspended would also be on further probation for 2 years after the expiry of their sanctions. Tournament Director Kishore too was punished with a 3 months suspension for failing to perform his duties, while umpire Shakeel was banned for a year.
Further it was agreed that all the above complicated players, officials and state member unit would be on probation for year after the expiry of their sanctions and any breaches of the Code of Conduct would constitute an immediate 3 offence and the players will automatically be suspended for a year.