June 12, 2007	Tuesday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 26, 1428

KARACHI, June 11: While Wapda say four players, who illegally represented Steel Mills at the recent national hockey championship, have either tendered resignations or have been sacked, they claim the quartet have not been issued No Objection Certificates that can allow them to play for another department.

Saghir Ahmad, the secretary of Wapda Sports Board, said on Monday the players — Farhan Asif, Mohammad Kamran, Imran Malik and Mohammad Sarfaraz — who were on Wapda’s payroll but represented Steel Mills at the national championship in March, were no more Wapda employees.

According to the Wapda official, Farhan and Kamran had tendered resignations after the national competition which had been accepted, while Imran was removed as he didn’t turn up to collect his salary after the national championship.

As for Sarfaraz, he has also been sacked for indiscipline and representing another department despite being a Wapda player.

“In fact Sarfaraz spoke to me after the national championship in Karachi and tendered an apology for his mistake. Since he was not among the 18-member Wapda squad, he opted to play for Steel Mills. We have terminated his services, while Kamran was among the squad, but he switched over to Steel Mills while drawing salary from Wapda as well,” Saghir said from Lahore.

However, he categorically stated the four players, who are again representing Steel Mills at the ongoing President’s Gold Cup, had not bee issued NOCs.

“Although they are no more with us, they have not been issued NOC’s which is necessary to obtain before representing any other department at a national level tournament. Since they never requested, they have not been issued NOCs but yet they are playing for Steel Mills which is a violation of the PHF rules,” the Wapda official said.

The official, however, said his side would not be protesting since the matter was now in domain of the technical officials and the PHF.

Tournament director Shamsuz Zaman was not available for comment on how the players have been allowed without the NOCs from their previous department.

The national championship was marred by protest from Wapda and Sargodha who claimed that Steel Mills had inducted four Wapda players without legal transfer and NOCs.

According to technical officials of the national championship, since both Wapda and Steel Mills submitted proof that four players were on their payroll, they didn’t take any action and referred the matter to the PHF which is yet to take notice of the issue.

However, it is incomprehensible as to why technical officials didn’t stop the four players from representing any department when the inquiry was pending.