Hockey players' mobile phones will be under watch

New Delhi, June 4 (IANS):

Hockey India (HI) is incorporating a clause in its constitution authorising the police to monitor the mobile phone calls of India players as a precautionary measure to check undesirable activities like match fixing.

HI secretary general Narinder Batra told IANS that the constitution will be amended to insert the clause and is likely to be taken up in the next executive board meeting of HI.

“We have stringent rules in our constitution to keep a close eye on match fixing. Now we want to bring in a clause that will also enable police to check the mobile phones of the players,” said Batra.

Batra also informed reporters that HI has stringent laws in place to keep agents away from the players.

“Players agents are not allowed to stay in team hotels nor are they allowed to mingle with the team during any tournament,” said Batra.

Batra said that in the midst of the spot-fixing scandal in the Indian Premier League (IPL), HI is also taking steps to educate the players to stay away from suspicious characters during matches.

During the national camp in Bangalore, chief coach Michael Nobbs and Sports Authority of India (SAI) head in Bangalore took a special class on match fixing and anti-doping.

HI is planning to keep stringent measures in place during the lucrative HIL from its second season.

India captain Sardar Singh said that with influx of money through HIL, the game is also becoming vulnerable to match fixing.