Wasn't pressurised to announce retirement: Sardar Singh

CHANDIGARH: A day after calling it quits from international hockey, midfielder Sardar Singh called a press conference on Thursday to give his reasons. He made it clear that the decision to retire wasn't forced upon him.
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The 32-year-old was time and again asked whether being dropped from the 25-member core probables list for the Asian Champions trophy, which was announced by Hockey India (HI) on Wednesday, forced him to take the decision.Or, whether HI had given him an ultimatum and was putting pressure on him.
To all those questions, Sardar had one answer: "I had made up my mind (to retire) after the Asian Games."

He explained: "The Asian Games failure was haunting me day in and day out. The semifinal loss (to Malaysia) was like a nightmare. Mentally, it was a lot of pressure and I wasn't able to deal with it. I had dealt with this pressure for 12 years and it finally took a toll on me. I discussed with my family, especially my elder brother (former India international Didar Singh), and came to a conclusion that it was time to hang my boots."
Sardar added: "I could have easily continued for another 2-3 years, because physically my fitness level is as good as it has ever been. But one loss after the another, especially the narrow ones, affected me a lot. They had taken a lot out of me emotionally. To get oneself fit and ready mentally for an international tournament was the real challenge."
On the rumours that Hockey India had been pressuring him to announce his retirement, Sardar rejected any such talk. "No, Hockey India didn't put any pressure on me to retire. Neither the decision was taken because I was dropped from the core probables list for the Asian Champions Trophy. It was my personal decision. No official from Hockey India or the chief coach had any role to play in it," said Sardar.
Talking about his future plans, Sardar said he wishes to open a hockey academy in Haryana where budding players would be trained to play the game in the "modern way".
"My plan is to collaborate with the Haryana government. I hope they give me land to start the hockey academy. I want to bring coaches from abroad. I plan to bring A and B level coaches from Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and Germany to India so that they can teach our budding hockey players - how to play the sport the modern way," said Sardar.
Rubbishing any feud with chief coach Harendra Singh, Sardar said that the Indian coach is a better communicator, one the players are more comfortable with.
"He (Harendra) has been doing a good job. The players are comfortable with him. I have seen him for the last 10-12 years and he has brought immense improvement in his coaching techniques. Most of our players come from a poor background and he has been like a big brother to them."