Indian hockey teams to sue former coach Sjoerd Marijne for false accusation on captain Manpreet Singh

After former coach, Sjoerd Marijne steered a storm by levelling an accusation on captain Manpreet Singh in his upcoming book, the Indian men's and women's teams are set to take Marijne and publishing house HarperCollins India to court.

The players of both men's and women's hockey teams issued a joint statement and expressed their deepest disappointment over their former coach's false accusations against captain Manpreet.

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In his upcoming book Will Power, the Dutchman wrote that during the 2018 Commonwealth games Mapreet asked a player to stop playing well so that his friends could get in the team.

In the joint statement, players said that this is a complete breach of trust and his duty of care as a coach as the remarks make them feel vulnerable in such situations.

"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 said if such an incident had indeed taken place, Marijne should have reported the matter to either Hockey India or his erstwhile employer, Sports Authority of India, which he didn't.

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"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.

The teams further added that by bringing such false and fabricated allegations, Marijne has questioned the integrity of the players.

Marijne coached the men's hockey team for nine months before his unceremonious exit following a dismal show at the 2018 Gold Coast Games.

He later took charge of the women's team and guided them to a historic fourth-place finish at Tokyo Olympics.

(With PTI inputs)