Sexual misconduct complaint: Hockey umpire from India sent back, he rejects charge

A senior official from Hockey India said, “He (Sangha) was sent back two days ago after the Malaysian umpire complained. We will take action if the Asian Hockey Federation gives us a detailed report.”

Sangha, meanwhile, denied the allegations, calling it an attempt at “character assassination”.

Reached for comment, he said, “I totally deny these allegations. Everyone in the hockey world knows me. It’s a character assassination. I only got to know about this from the media. There have been some administrative issues with higher authorities and I had made my mind up to retire after the Asian Games.”

Sangha, who became an international hockey umpire in 2003 and was inducted into the umpire managers’ panel in 2017, claimed he didn’t have any interaction with women officials during his stay at the Asian Games, and his premature return home was due to family issues.

“I have been handling men’s umpire panels and there is no association with any female umpire or any other female. Such allegations are a result of vendetta against officials like me. The environment in hockey is getting worse day by day,” he said.

“My flight was on Saturday but I brought it forward by a day as my mother passed away a few days ago and my wife was having some health issues. I had planned to come back as soon as I could. I had told the Asian Hockey Federation that it would be my last tournament. I will consider legal action once I get back to Jalandhar,” he said.

Sangha, 54, hails from Jalandhar and has been officiating matches at the international level for more than a decade.

Last year, he had faced a similar complaint from an Indian woman umpire during the 2024-2025 Hockey India League (HIL). The complaint lodged with Hockey India at the time accused him of behaving with the umpire in a manner that was “unprofessional, disrespectful”, which “created an extremely uncomfortable atmosphere” for her on “20th January 2025, at approximately 4.20-4.25 pm in the lobby area” of a hotel in Ranchi.

Following the complaint, Sangha was removed from his officiating duties at the tournament, the Hockey India official said. Hockey India also set up a committee to probe the complaint but its findings were not made public, and Sangha went on to officiate in the men’s Junior World Cup in Chennai and Madurai last year.