LAHORE, April 20: The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) has asked the seven players who featured in the recent World Series Hockey (WSH) in India to appear before a disciplinary committee on May 7 to clarify their actions of violating the code of conduct by taking part in the breakaway tournament which had been declared illegal by the International Hockey Federation (FIH).

The seven players including four former captains, namely Rehan Butt, Shakeel Abbasi, Zeeshan Ashraf and Imran Warsi along with Tariq Aziz, Adnan Maqsood and Waseem Ahmed featured for various teams in the competition, ignoring the warning of the PHF and the FIH.

Amongst them, Rehan and Shakeel were probables for the Pakistan’s training camp for the upcoming London Olympics, which was being held in Lahore at that time. Shakeel, meanwhile, is at an even greater loss as he was certain to be named as Pakistan skipper for the Games.

Wasey Jalil is the head of the disciplinary committee, while Saghir Ahmad, Saeed Khan and Tanzeela Aamir are the members.

“The PHF has issued show-cause notices to the seven players and asked them to appear before the PHF disciplinary committee on May 7 in the PHF office, National Hockey Stadium, Lahore to explain their point of view,” a PHF press release says.

It is very likely that the players will not be given harsh punishments as it is the first time they have violated these rules.

Even the cricketers, who had violated the same rules and joined the controversial Indian Cricket League (ICL), were later acquitted after announcing their disassociation from the league. As the PHF has also advised the FIH not to announce harsh punishments against the players, it seems fines in cash and warnings may be served to the players.