KARACHI, March 23: Wapda lodged an official protest with the national hockey championship technical officials against Steel Mills for inducting four of their players who they claimed are employees of power generating organisation.

In a written protest to tournament director Hanif Khan, Wapda coach Mansoorul Haq said four players — Farhan Asif, M. Kamran, Imran Malik and M. Sarfaraz — are on Wapda’s payroll but are representing Steel Mills.

“All the four players participated in the Wapda inter-unit tournament in Faisalabad. They are still our employees and can’t represent any other team except Wapda. This is clear violation of tournament rules,” Mansoor told Dawn.

The Wapda official said he had been asked to submit proof of the employment of the four players with Wapda by 3.00pm on Saturday.

“We have all the proof with us that they are still Wapda employees and have not left the department. We will prove it tomorrow,” Mansoor said.

Hanif said if allegations by Wapda proved correct he would recommend strict action against the four players and Steel Mills as well.

“If Wapda comes with prove to support their charges, I will recommend PHF to impose three to five years ban on the players and Steel Mills should be debarred from playing at least two national level tournaments as penalty,” the former Pakistan captain said.

However, Hanif said he would not allow the four players to represent Steel Mills if charges were proved but would not stop the team from playing at the premier event.

Hanif says according to tournament terms and conditions, players from any department cannot represent any other outfit without leaving their organisation. He said a player must resign at least 20 days before the championship if he wants to represent another department.

Interestingly, Wapda have lodged a protest despite winning the match against Steel Mills but with a slim 4-3 margin. Imran and Sarfaraz played a key role for Steel Mills scoring one goal apiece.