Hockey India denies claim of Sjoerd Marijne regarding pending salary

Indian hockey's apex body however admitted that $1800 is yet to be paid to the former Indian women's team coach.

Hockey India denied claims made by former Indian women's hockey team coach Sjoerd Marijne in the Indian Express. Marjine had claimed that he is yet to receive his "final salary" and the Uttar Pradesh Government's Rs 25 lakh cash prize. In an official statement, the country's apex hockey body termed the claims as a "malicious attempt to paint a dark picture of Indian sports administration."

"We are extremely disappointed that despite having the opportunity to have an extremely lucrative job here in India provided by the Sports Authority of India, this is the kind of a response we observe after completion of his tenure. As far as we understand, Sjoerd Marijne has been paid his salary till August 7, 2021 and is owed only a balance amount of USD 1800," the statement read.

"This is also in conjunction with the fact that he has not yet returned a laptop with a similar value that was given to him for his role while being appointed with the national team. He is also still due to file his report on the Olympics Games 2020. Due to the non-return of the laptop, Hockey India is unable to issue an NOC and as such believes that the Sports Authority of India is well within their rights to retain the USD 1800."

Hockey India also said that failing to return the laptop amounts to data theft by Sjoerd Marijne. They can also go to court and threaten him with legal action.

Speaking on the matter, Rajinder Singh, Secretary General, Hockey India said, “The Indian sports ecosystem and us at Hockey India as well, hold the athlete at the highest regard. Any prize money or performance incentive is prioritised for them and rightly so. The payment of any such prize money is given at the discretion of the State and corporate. A coach, receiving a salary for a specific job cannot hold himself in the same light and demand this.”

“It is disappointing that individuals from certain European Countries come to India for lucrative jobs however want to criticise the establishment once they have departed, we have also witnessed recently the response again of certain European Countries to the Indian athletes winning the FIH Annual Awards, which does not speak well of them.”

“We may point out that not returning the laptop issued to him amounts to data theft since it contains enormous amounts of critical data on the Indian players. We recommend to take necessary penal action against Sjoerd Marijne to facilitate the recovery of the laptop and the data it holds,” he concluded.

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