KARACHI, March 17: NWFP ‘B’ manager alleged Saturday’s match between Sindh ‘B’ and Punjab ‘A’ in the 49th HBL national hockey championship inter-provincial preliminary round as fixed.

Mohammad Tufail, NWFP ‘B’ manager, accused the umpires [Chowdhry Tanveer and Iftikhar Ahmad] of favouring Punjab ‘A’ since both belonged to the same province.

“We (NWFP ‘B’) would have qualified for the main round had the umpires not favoured Punjab ‘A’. I have protested on the matter and will submit a written statement to the tournament director and the secretary of the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF),” he told reporters Sunday at Hockey Club of Pakistan.

According to the NWFP ‘B’ manager, Punjab ‘A’ would have been dumped from the tournament had they drawn against Sindh ‘B’, finishing with four points, paving the way for qualification for his side having six points.

Chowdhry Tanveer disallowed a 58th-minute Sindh ‘B’ goal off a short corner by Mudassir Abbas after consulting umpire Iftikhar Ahmad.

Mudassir had scored off a sweep landing the ball into the net missing the board. Later, Sindh ‘B’ scored a dying-moment goal that made the scoreline 3-2.

“Umpire Chowdhry Tanveer reversed the decision after allowing a second half goal on a penalty corner to Sindh ‘B’. The result would have been 3-3,” he said.