HI ready to acknowledge player demands

Hockey India on Monday sought to strike a conciliatory note with its revolting players, saying that the demands put forth by Rajpal Singh and his men were "fair enough" and a compromise would be thrashed out soon.

HI representative Ikram Khan reached Pune to negotiate with the players boycotting the ongoing World Cup preparatory camp to protest the non-payment of their dues and incentives for their performances in 2009.

HI had last night accused the players of blackmailing the federation and holding the nation to ransom but Khan offered an olive branch to the players on Monday.

"I think there will be a compromise soon. They will listen to us and I am 100 per cent sure that the matter will be sorted out. I am going to meet the players right now," he said.

"I interacted with them yesterday. They are not satisfied with the incentives and the grade system that we are planning and all this will be worked out soon. The players are very clear about what they want and that is fair enough. The only thing is the timing and how they have gone about it," he added.

Khan, however, insisted that boycotting a national camp was not right way to assert demands.

"They should not have boycotted the camp. They should respect their coaches, after all they are very senior players. They should start their practice and the other process will continue," he said.