Carvalho warned by FIH; remarks about umpires under review

New Delhi, Apr 3 (UNI) National coach Joaquim Carvalho is under more trouble as the FIH has decided to review his remarks about the umpires during India's debacle at the Olympic qualifiers at Santiago last month and has also warned him and his support staff to stick to the governing body's code of conduct.

The International Hockey Federation (FIH) official Bob Davidzon, who is also the Project Director of 'Promoting Indian Hockey', said in a statement, ''the level of abuse and criticism of umpires, which seems to be acceptable in India, is certainly not acceptable to the international body.

''It starts from the top of national federations, through dignitaries and team management downwards.

After India failed to qualify for the Olympics, Carvalho joined the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) president K P S Gill and blamed the poor umpiring decisions for their debacle.

Carvalho also lambasted the tournament director for visiting the team hotel at midnight to reprimand Indian player Gurbaj Singh.

Davidzon has now lashed out at the Indian coach saying Carvalho should first know the rules and regulations of the tournmament and has also warned him to abide by the FIH code of conduct.

''The compulsory reading out of sentences to the players involved in an incident is entirely at the hands of the manager and the tournament director. The manager has to agree with the tournament director on the time and venue for the hearing. But it does not mean the incident has to take place in the middle of the night,'' said Davidzon.

''The FIH Code of Conduct is clear that all participants in any tournament must not involve in a personal attack on another player, umpire, appointed official or administrator,'' he added.

Davidzon has infact blamed the IHF for India's unjustified umpiring criticism, which he thinks was due to lack of knowledge about the rules of the game.

''The knowledge of the rules and the tournament briefing for Indian team and its staff was well below par. That led to unjustified criticism,'' he said.

He further added that the Santiago debacle would serve as a timely call for the Indian women's team ahead of their Olympic qualification campaign in Kazan, Russia, later this month.

UNI RAR RN2022