Basketball player Amjyot Singh has expressed his disappointment at being banned by the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) for "gross indiscipline".
Chander Mukhi Sharma, the secretary-general of BFI, had stated that Amjyot was given a one-year ban for "slapping India teammate Arshpreet Bhullar" during a training session at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.
Amjyot refuted the charge, saying that he acted in self-defence.
“During a practice session, there was an altercation between Arshpreet Bhullar and me during the normal course of practice. There was a disagreement between a foul call called by the coach. I am the last person to indulge in any alleged violence and my reaction was only in self-defence,” a statement from Amjyot read, adding that his actions
“do not even remotely warrant a one-year ban.”
“I was not even provided with a chance to be heard despite repeated attempts to clarify my stand," Amjyot said.
Amjyot, who was picked by NBA G-League team OKC Blue last year, recalled an incident which painted the BFI in poor light.
Amjyot stated that the BFI informed him and OKC Blue that he had been included in the national squad for the FIBA World Cup qualifiers, held in Bengaluru in February this year. But upon his arrival in Bengaluru, he learnt that the BFI has missed including his name and teammate Amritpal Singh’s name on the team roster submitted to FIBA.
“Furthermore, when they were unable to rectify their error with FIBA, BFI representatives instructed us not to speak to the media about the same and also requested us to fake injury to the media. When we strictly refused to lie to the media, they asked us to leave Bangalore immediately and they booked our flights to our respective homes,”
Amjyot stated.
The Punjab forward added that the BFI did not reimburse his cost of travel from Oklahoma to Bengaluru.
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