Coach Fulton’s statement on rape allegations against Varun Kumar, said- ‘This is distracting and challenging’
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India head coach Craig Fulton on Friday said the rape allegation against defender Varun Kumar is a distraction for the men’s hockey team and his absence from the FIH Pro League due to injury will be considered a setback.
Arjuna Award winner Varun withdrew from the tournament after being accused of rape. He is exploring legal options to deal with this allegation. He termed the allegations as a ‘planned attempt to extort money’.
India has to face Spain in the opening match of the tournament on Saturday. Fulton said in the pre-match press conference, “It is a challenging situation but you have to be professional enough to deal with these things. We have our plans before the match.” He said, ”If you look at it from the perspective of a player getting injured, then you will understand that one of our players has got injured. What do you do in such a situation? What is your plan if a player gets injured? Varun is not here. What are your plans in his absence? Whenever a striker, midfielder or defensive player gets injured, there is a plan as a replacement.
The Indian coach said, “We are moving forward in a professional manner. It’s distracting, it’s challenging, it’s not very good but we have to move forward, we have a plan how we move forward.” India captain Harmanpreet Singh hoped Varun would get a chance in other tournaments later. Will get a chance to play. Harmanpreet said, “He is in the list of 29 (probable players). The coach has already said that he will keep changing the team, so definitely he (Varun) can also play and definitely he will be with us as well.
When asked about the need for a mental conditioning coach like Paddy Upton in the team under such circumstances, Fulton said that the team was able to “stick to the task and maintain its values”. Upton was with the Indian men’s team at the Asian Champions Trophy and Asian Games. He also met Indian players in Cape Town during the South Africa tour. Captain Harmanpreet said that these matches of the domestic phase of the FIH Pro League will help in selecting the team for the Olympics.
He said, “This is the last series of matches in India before the Olympics. So this is a good opportunity for us to test ourselves and improve. We have to see how we utilize this opportunity and prepare for the Olympics.
Disclaimer: IndiaTheNews has not edited this news. This news has been published from PTI-language feed.
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