Former hockey captain Haseem Khan announced his retirement on Wednesday, holding the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) responsible for the dismal state of the game in the country.

During a press conference at his residence in Karachi, he accused the PHF of being biased and having syndicates within the selection committee.

The former captain accused the current selection committee of mistreating him. “I have been bearing the attitude of the selection committee for long and now, it is time that I speak the truth and reveal that a lobby was active within the selection committee,” he said.

“The current selection committee headed by former Olympian Hasan Sardar has been biased and unfair to the players who have been performing,” he added.

Khan also complained that he was not selected in the recently held Nishan-i-Haider tournament at home as well as the Asia Cup in Bangladesh.

“I was the captain of the team, yet I wasn't selected for the tournament held last month, for the Asia Cup or for the four-nation hockey tournament which is going to be held next month,” he told reporters.

He rejected the impression of poor performance on his part and alleged that the selection committee head had always been pulling him out from the national squad on the pretext of poor performance. “You can observe my performance during the last tour and other matches; if I had lacked anywhere, I wouldn’t be holding this press conference today," he remarked.

"I had been waiting that they [the PHF selection committee members] might go on merit and select players fairly based on fitness and performance,” he said, adding that his patience went in vain. “Again, they did not select me, saying that my performance is not good, so I have decided to retire from hockey,” announced Khan.

“I have never demanded captaincy and have always played for Pakistan,” he said, adding that he won’t be joining the team in any circumstances under the current selection committee.

“I know I will be treated the same afterwards,” he viewed.

When contacted, Hasan Sardar rejected all the allegations against him, saying that Khan was dropped from the Asia Cup simply because of his poor performance. A fuming Sardar told DawnNews that Haseem was no one to level allegations against him or the selection committee. Sardar further said that he was also a top scorer in the game and he knows it very well.

Responding to a question about Khan's presser, he said that the discipline committee of the board could take action against Khan.