Noor's energy, Shahzadi's name

Hockey player registered under someone else's name.

LAHORE:

Huma Noor, a hockey player from the under-16 inter-division level, has alleged sexual harassment by her coaches and said that another girl's name has wrongly been linked with her performances to promote someone else's career.

Noor claims she has been representing the Lahore team without knowing that she was registered as Kanwal Shahzadi.

"Normally you can't participate in the event without having a B-form but I was allowed to feature on the basis of school certificates," said Noor. "But I never knew that the matches I played were facilitating another girl's career. When I tried to raise my voice, I was dropped from the event altogether.

"However, the other girl was then drafted into the squad without having played at the inter-division level even though I was the one who played all the games while being registered under her name."

She further claimed that there are many over-aged girls playing for different teams at the age-restricted event and that girls are also sexually harassed by their coaches.  She insisted that this was the prime reason why the Pakistan Hockey Federation cancelled their participation in last month's Junior Asian Cup because the list of players prepared by the coaches were full of over-aged players.

The Punjab Sports Board (PSB) has confirmed that Noor's complaints have been registered and an investigation has been lodged into the matter. However, the board refuted allegations of sexual harassment by saying that they lacked substance.

"I don't know why out of 16 girls only Huma had complained about it," a PSB official told The Express Tribune. I don't know the facts but I will still ask the team managers and coaches to report on the scenario."

Published in The Express Tribune, June 15^th, 2011.