LAHORE: The ongoing tussle between the national players and the team management over the Australia tour debacle intensified on Saturday after the latter in their meeting with the ad-hoc president of the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) Mohiyuddin Ahmed Wani declined to accompany the squad to Egypt for the World Cup qualifier starting there later this month.

The team management — comprising head coach Tahir Zaman, manager-cum-assistant coach Usman Sheikh and assistant coach Zeeshan Ashraf — took up the stance after it emerged that Mohiyuddin, during the meeting held in Islamabad, was not willing to take an action against the players for misconduct during the tour to Australia where Pakistan featured in the FIH Pro League matches of the second leg.

The team during the meeting briefed the president on the national team’s recent tours to Argentina, Australia and Bangladesh, highlighting the performance, challenges and instances of mismanagement.

“The PHF president [in the meeting] offered us to continue with our role in the team management for the World Cup qualifier [in Egypt]. While responding to this offer, we requested the president to first take action against the undisciplined players of the national team; otherwise, it will not be easy for us to work with these players,” a member of the team management, who was present in the meeting, said on condition of anonymity.

“However, [responding to our request] the president was not willing to take disciplinary action against the players,” he added.

“How is it possible for any official to work with the same players who defamed their coaches publicly? Therefore, it is better the new [ad-hoc] management of the PHF appoint a new team of coaches to accompany the players [to Egypt].”

The team is scheduled to leave for Egypt on Feb 24.

Nothing wrong took place during the tour to Australia, he insisted.

“Nothing wrong happened on the tour. In fact, the players, following the agenda of some anti-hockey forces, were involved in spreading a wrong propaganda,” he alleged.

“Soon we [the outgoing team management] will submit our report on the said tour to the PHF president with all evidence containing video clips and comments of some former Pakistan hockey players currently living in Australia, who accommodated the entire national squad in Sydney [during the tour],” he further said.

The latest chaos in Pakistan hockey started after media reports said the squad that toured Australia earlier this month faced serious accommodation crisis in Sydney and Hobart during the tour. Ammad and senior player Hanan Shahid immediately after returning from Australia levelled serious allegations against the team management for what they termed poor arrangements made for the said tour.

Bugti denied all the allegations, banned Ammad for two years for misconduct and put the blame on the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) before tendering the resignation on Thursday.

Soon after Bugti’s resignation, Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Mohsin Naqvi met the hockey players and assured PCB’s full cooperation for sending the national team to Egypt. The PCB in a statement on Thursday also announced that cheques of Rs1,000,000 had been given to each member of the hockey team.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif as PHF patron-in-chief accepted Bugti’s resignation and appointed Mohiuyddin, who is the Federal Secretary of the Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC), as the ad-hoc PHF president. On Friday, Mohiyuddin in his statement to media announced an immediate removal of the ban on Ammad.

On Saturday, Mohiyuddin announced the formation of two committees to run the affairs of the PHF.

“In a bid to revamp and strengthen the PHF, we are pleased to announce the formation of two key committees to drive reforms and propel hockey development in the country,” a press release issued by the PHF stated.

“As part of our commitment to good governance and transparency, we will be establishing a Governance Management Committee and a Professional Development Committee within the next two days,” the release added.

“The Governance Management Committee will focus on streamlining management and operations, comprising sectoral experts in Human Resource Management, Financial Management, Resource Mobilisation, Communication & Outreach, Departmental Coordination, Inter-Provincial Coordination for Sports, Coordination, Promotion of Sports in Schools, Colleges and Universities.

“The Professional Development Committee will focus on enhancing hockey development and performance, comprising Sports Coaches & Trainers, Training Professionals, Sports Medicine Experts, Ex-Olympians.”By separating management and play functions, we aim to ensure focused growth and development of the Pakistan Hockey Federation,” the release concluded.

Published in Dawn, February 22nd, 2026