Indian hockey captain Rajpal Singh played down the ongoing captaincy controversy when he spoke to espnstar.com’s Chandraboli Mitra.

"I don't want to say anything on the captaincy issue. My sole aim as a player and the captain of the Indian team will be to give my 100 per cent during the World Cup," clarified Rajpal Singh.

With just three weeks left for the Hockey World Cup, the captaincy issue is getting murkier with each passing day. Reports claimed that the selection panel has finally given up to the players' wish of making Prabhjot Singh the Indian skipper instead of Rajpal Singh.

But later in the day, Hockey India (HI) general secretary Narinder Batra rubbished all reports, claiming, "I would like to make it clear that the decision of the selectors to continue with Rajpal as captain is final and binding."

Batra also denied having received any letter from the team management asking them to name Prabhjot as captain in place of Rajpal.

However,the controversy is refusing to die down.

But when Rajpal was asked about how the team is dealing with these rumours floating around, ahead of such a big event, he replied, "When you say ‘the team', the term itself denotes a group of people who are together and working as a unit for the mega event.

"Every player will have to play with his own stick. I will not be doing it for them during the tournament. So, every individual knows his responsibility as a player. So, I am pretty relaxed as I am sure that everyone will give their best when country's prestige will be at stake," said the Indian forward.

Rajpal sounded unmoved by the controversy and looked determined to do well.

"Mera aim hai India ko medal dilana (My aim is to win a medal for India) and whether I achieve it as the captain of the team or a player, it doesn't really matter. In fact, I will look to play my natural game and also help the boys, which I have been doing, in any case, for the last so many years," said Rajpal.

He also stressed that he and chief coach Jose Brasa share a good relationship contrary to some media reports.

He said that the team had been preparing for the World Cup since the time the Spaniard took over as the coach in May 2009.

"Our preparations have been going on since Brasa joined us. We went for the European tour, the Canadian tour, and many more tours like those and tried to learn as much as possible. Then we had a camp in Pune and now we are in Delhi where the matches are scheduled to be played."

The captain, however, admitted that a podium finish may be a distant dream.

"Finishing at the podium obviously won't be easy but it is not impossible either. In the last World Cup, we finished 11th and this time even if we manage to jump 5 to 6 places, it would be a big thing.

"However, our aim is to qualify for the last four and from there on it can be anyone's trophy," concluded Rajpal.