Top PHF officials, Imran appear before committee

KARACHI: Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) president Akhtar Rasool, secretary Rana Mujahid, chief coach Shahnaz Sheikh and captain Muhammad Imran appeared on Thursday in front of the inquiry committee established by the IPC ministry, The News has learnt.
The committee has been set up to ascertain the reasons for the failure of Pakistan to qualify for Rio Olympics.
The committee, established on the directives of PM Nawaz Sharif, held the meeting in Islamabad and took the statements of these officials Imran.
The committee is headed by secretary IPC Ijaz Chaudhary and members Olympian Shahbaz Ahmed, Col Muddassir, Khwaja Junaid and Akhtar Nawaz Ganjera.
The committee has said it is not its mandate to retain or remove any official. It said it would only work to find the reasons behind the failure in the qualifying rounds held in Belgium.
Sources said that coach Shahnaz Sheikh submitted a written report about the team’s performance in the qualifying rounds and reasons behind the poor show.
Captain Imran, when contacted, told ‘The News’ that he was called by the committee twice and stated whatever he considered was the truth.
The committee meeting is expected to continue for a couple of days as one week has been given to it to submit the report, sources said.
Meanwhile, eyebrows were raised by the PHF’s act of establishing a separate three-member committee to probe the reasons of the failure to qualify. The body comprises Shahid Ali Khan, Mansoor Ahmed and Ikhlaq Ahmed. Shahid is the treasurer of the PHF.
Some former players said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, being the patron in chief of PHF, had established a committee about the poor show of the Green-shirts in the Olympics qualifying round. In this situation, setting up another committee was tantamount to challenging the authority of the chief executive of the country who also happened to be the patron in chief of the federation.
Shahnaz has said he has not resigned as chief coach of the national team. He said Pakistan won two silver medals under his wings. He said it was unjust to demand his resignation on the basis of poor show in only one event and that too when the team was not given all that it needed. Before the qualifying rounds, he had said that the team needed to play 30 to 35 international matches in order to be fully prepared to take on the big teams in Belgium.