Two players banned from tonight's Champions Trophy final despite Pakistan apology to India

Pakistan goalkeeper says team will appeal to tournament director before the final to lift the ban

Amid a brewing controversy over Pakistan hockey team’s behaviour after their historic win against India in the semi-final of the Champions Trophy, the International Hockey Federation has banned two Pakistan players for ‘uncouth behaviour’ from the final against Germany tonight.

Muhammad Tauseek and Amjad Ali will not be allowed to play in today’s final. While, Shafqat Rasool has been warned about his conduct.

Meanwhile, Pakistan hockey team goalkeeper Imran Butt says they will appeal to the tournament director before the match to lift the ban of two players.

The decision is in stark contrast to an earlier statement by the tournament's director Wiert Doyer who had then said he had investigated the incident and did not deem it necessary to take action against anyone.

"I have spoken to Shahnaz and told him that the behaviour of Pakistan players went beyond what is acceptable to standards of the FIH," Doyer said in the statement issued by the world governing body.

"The behaviour in question concerned many members of the Pakistan team. It is difficult to find any particular miscreant, and it is possible that the behaviour of the players may have been a reaction.

"Mr. Shahnaz Sheikh has apologised and assured me that this behaviour will not occur again. Given these matters, I've decided that no further action is warranted," Doyer said.

Earlier in the day, Hockey India President Narinder Batra said Pakistan would have to apologise for its 'inappropriate' behaviour, while also slamming the International Hockey Federation's (FIH)'s decision to take “no further action” against Pakistan.

The president of India Hockey Federation Narinder Batra told The Express Tribune that the IHF should have taken a strong action on the players who took off their shirts and made obscene gestures towards the spectators and the media of India.

"I have asked the tournament director to take some strong action on the players otherwise we will boycott all the upcoming matches with Pakistan till  proper apology by Pakistani players," said Batra. "We have left the decision to be taken by the tournament management and hope a neutral action is taken."

It seems tournament director Wiert Doyer caved into Indian pressure and accepted the host countries request for an unconditional apology from Pakistan. Doyer has asked the Pakistani management to ask their players to apologise in order to play the final match, a PHF official revealed to The Express Tribune.

Moments later, the head coach of Pakistan's hockey team, Shahnaz Shaikh, apologised to the Indian team on behalf of the Pakistan team. Earlier, Shaikh had apologised to the tournament director but said that the reaction of the players was a reply to Indian spectators, while refusing to apologise as the incident happened in the "heat of the moment".

Further, the India Hockey President had said FIH's decision is unaccpetable to India, the Hockey India president wrote, "I am instructing my CEO to inform FIH that in case this kind of behaviour by teams is within normal and tolerable limits of FIH, then we may not be interested to host any more tournaments in India and the tournaments may be shifted to countries which tolerate this kind of nonsense and uncouth behaviour."

Batra also said there will be no friendly series with Pakistan until their federation issues an unconditional apology.

"Further there will now be no friendly series on annual basis with Pakistan until an unconditional apology is received from Pakistan Hockey Federation on the uncouth and undesired behaviour of their athletes with spectators and media after the semi-finals on 13 December 2014," he said.

As Pakistan edged past arch-rivals India 4-3 in a thrilling semi-final match at the Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar in India on Saturday, advancing to the final, team players removed their T-shirts to celebrate.

Last night, Pakistan team’s head coach Shahnaz Shaikh boycotted a press conference following objections over his team's behaviour by Indian media.

Responding to the statements, Shaikh while speaking to The Express Tribune said, “The players only expressed their happiness over their victory and I wrote a written apology to the tournament director.”

A copy of Shahnaz Shaikh's apology:



“If such reactions continue then the subcontinent and South Asia’s hockey will not benefit,” Shaikh warned.

Further, the coach said the team is focused on the match and are hopeful they will win the final.

Pakistan take on Olympic champions Germany in the final on Sunday night. The semi-final helped Pakistan avenge their defeat by India in the Asian Games final in South Korea in October that denied them a direct entry to the 2016 Olympics.