Indian senior men’s hockey team captain Sardar Singh may be outrightly rejecting claims made by Ashpal Kaur Bhogal that they were just friends but if you hear out the lady in question, it is difficult to believe that there were ‘just friends’. The 21-year-old Ashpal, who became the first British Asian woman to represent the England hockey team, is determined to give all it takes to get justice.
The England-born Ashpal spoke about her relationship with Sardar Singh and much more in an exclusive interview.
Excerpts:
Q. Sardar Singh has consistently maintained that he was never engaged to you. How do you respond to that?
He can say so but I know the truth. Why will I come out with all the stuff that I have if at all I was not engaged to Sardar. Time will reveal everything.
Q. When did you first met him and how did the relationship prosper from there?
I first met him before the 2012 Olympics and we were friends to start with - he gave me tickets to watch him play at London. We didn't meet as it was not a suitable time for us to be meeting due to competition. We subsequently were passionately in love - he popped the question during the 2014 World Cup in The Hague. It was all about taking our relationship to the next level.
Q. You made a stinging allegation that Sardar got you pregnant and even wanted you to abort the child. But he has said that he never had any physical relationship with you. How would like to respond to that?
First of all, why would I lie about getting pregnant? He wanted to go for abortion and told me if I don’t abort the child, he will snap ties with me. I was supposed to give birth to the child sometime in 2015 but I opted for abortion as per his wish – I underwent abortion in Europe.
Q. The Indian captain has also said that you have been misusing his social media accounts like Twitter after getting the passwords from his friends and tweeting stuff about getting engaged and later about getting married. What’s your take?
My question to him is who is using his social media accounts now? Still me, when we have no contact. I am aware from sources that he regularly uploads photos on Instagram and Facebook.
Q. Sardar Singh is a celebrity in India – do you think you can get justice?
I have full faith in the Indian judicial system – if somebody has done something wrong he should get what he deserves. Just because you are a big name or celebrity does not mean that you can go scot-free.
Q. During the 2015 Hockey World League Semifinal Round in Belgium, there were reports both of you had a big fight at the team hotel – even the Belgium police visited the hotel to take stock of the situation.
We had some verbal arguments, which turned violent. I was questioning him about his intimate relations with other women. I'm sure that you have read one or two team members have given statements that they saw physical marks on my face.
