BENGALURU: Taking objection to India football team's mental coach Shayamal Vallabhjee airing his grievances in the media, the All India Football Federation on Thursday said despite assurances, the sports psychologist refused to join the national camp in Bhubaneswar ahead of the World Cup qualifiers against Kuwait and Qatar.
"The AIFF, with inputs and requests from the National coach, was in the process of finalising the agreement with Vallabhjee on mutually agreed terms for services already rendered and those to be rendered in the future. As of date, the terms and release of payment remained subject to the finalisation of the agreement (which Vallabhjee was still negotiating) and the approval of the AIFF Finance Committee and Vallabhjee was fully aware of the same. Despite being assured that the payments would be duly made upon completion of the process, he has refused to join the camp thus far and has also cited certain other commitments that do not enable him to join the team before June 2," AIFF acting secretary-general M Satyanarayan told TOI in an email clarifying the federation's stand on the matter.
