Days after walking away from the Indian hockey team after just three months, trainer Jesus Garcia Pallares on Monday blamed “lack of professionalism” in the Sports Authority of India (SAI) as the reason behind his sudden resignation.

In an email to The Indian Express, Pallares — appointed as the national team’s Human Performance Analyst in June — accused SAI of changing the terms of his contract, and criticised them for not giving him any support during his stint. “Several of the articles of the contract that I signed on June 3 in Delhi had been deliberately changed (compared) to what Mr. (Jose) Brasa had negotiated with SAI in my name,” he said.

Indian officials had suggested that Pallares quit because of his recent marriage, but the trainer described it as a “stupid excuse”. “My marriage (4 months ago) was not the problem here. It’s a stupid excuse. I sent my resignation to SAI on September 7 and they didn’t bother to answer me. I did not get one reply for all the mails I have sent them in the past three months... They are professional liars and I hope that in future they will not lie to any other professional hockey coach or physical trainer,” a furious Pallares wrote.

The SAI had also said that they were in the process of buying the equipment that Pallares had wanted, but the trainer said that was only lip service.

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“When I signed my contract, they promised me all the equipment immediately — they told me that everything will be done the week after I signed. Then, when I arrived from Singapore, the SAI staff promised me everything will be done the week after.. To date, (I’ve got) less than 5 per cent of all resources in order to perform my job and to be responsible for the performance of this team. I knew the future of this team depends on implementing a new system and methods of training, and that at the moment is totally impossible,” he said.

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