Russell Mahmud Jimmy believes that the Bangladesh Hockey Federation fact-finding committee is going to pin the team’s failure at the Asia Cup on him and senior players Zahid Hossain, Emran Hasan Pintu and Kamruzzaman Rana. ‘There have been conversations in the hockey arena which have created disturbances in our family lives. We see that everybody is busy blaming us but nobody talks about the technical faults,’ Jimmy said at a press conference at the Moulana Bhasani Hockey Stadium on Friday, responding to allegations that the players did not give their best efforts during the tournament.
‘Nobody blamed the coach [Naveed Alam], but he was also responsible for the failure. They [the BHF] are trying to give all the responsibility to us, those who raised their voices for the player transfer before the Asia Cup,’ he added, pointing to the drama preceding the tournament as possible motivation for making the players scapegoats.
The fact-finding committee, formed by the BHF to
determine the causes of the Asia Cup debacle, will submit its report to the BHF during today’s governing body meeting.
Top BHF officials said that the body will take strong action if anybody is found guilty for the Asia Cup failure.
A source inside the fact-finding committee said that they found the four players had tried to damage team unity and did not give their best efforts during matches.
The source also said that the committee had heard serious allegations against local coach Mahbub Harun, who allegedly consumed alcohol with some senior players during the tournament.
-With New Age input
