ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) on Monday questioned the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) that under which capacity their skipper Sardar Singh has given such an immature and unethical statement against Pakistani players.
Sardar had asked the Pakistani players to apologize for the incident that took place during the Champions Trophy (CT) in Bhubaneswar in December 2014. He said Pakistani players are suffering for what they did during the CT and shouldn't be allowed to participate in the Hockey India League (HIL).
Talking to APP, PHF Secretary Shahbaz Ahmed Senior said a statement like this from Sardar was totally inappropriate and condemnable. "It is not a player's prerogative to issue statements like these against other country's players," he said.
Shahbaz said more than a year had passed to the CT incident and now Sardar was recalling that again which did not make any sense. "Sardar has completely lost it and such an attitude is against the sportsman spirit," he said.
He said in reaction to the incident, the International Hockey Federation (FIH) had suspended the Pakistani players so now there was no need of this sort of statement from Sardar again. "I am surprised why the IHF has taken so much time in taking any notice of Sardar's statement," he said.
Shahbaz said if IHF did not take any action in this regard then it would imply that they themselves were exaggerating the matter. "It is always someone from India who starts giving immature statements against Pakistan. India is destroying the spirit of sports in the subcontinent," he added.
Meanwhile, former coach Shahnaz Sheikh said FIH should take strict action against Sardar for his statement.
Former Olympian Tahir Zaman said India had made the CT incident an excuse for not including Pakistani players in HIL. "Pakistani players are invited in leagues from all over the world including Australia, Germany and Malaysia etc but India is getting personal," he said.
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