KARACHI, April 29: Former Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) secretary Akhtarul Islam on Sunday said while officials are compromising on principles, Olympians from different lobbies are hell-bent on ruining the sport by promoting ‘their men’.

The former Pakistan full-back who quit on March 21 by saying he doesn’t wish to work as a rubber–stamp to PHF president Zafarullah Jamali, claimed that game was being ravaged because of a clash between Olympians from Gojra and Sialkot.

“There are two very strong lobbies and it is like Gojra versus Sialkot. It is a tussle between two groups from these towns which are often involved in clashes while hockey is the real casualty,” Akhtar told Dawn.

Giving an example of nepotism, the former PHF official said Pakistan hockey coach Manzoorul Hassan and his younger brother Rasheedul Hassan had always been supporting former captain Mohammad Usman who belonged to their hometown, Gojra.

His claims were proved right when junior team manager Jahangir admitted that he had been approached by Rasheed to accommodate Usman as coach but he refused since the former right-half had no coaching credentials to his name.

“I was approached by others too who requested me to recommend Usman as coach. General discussions did take place about this with Rasheed and others. But I can’t oblige everybody. So if someone is unhappy or upset over something, I can’t help it,” Jahangir said.

Akhtar corroborated Jahangir’s version, disclosing that Rasheed had asked Jahangir to appoint Usman as the coach before Kenya and Egypt’s tour in March but was annoyed when Kamran Ashraf and Danish Kaleem were named as coaches.

“When I was PHF secretary, Rasheed was so furious that he stopped talking to Jahangir when he was in Faisalabad for a training camp,” he said.

Interestingly, Manzoor recently denied reports he had been lobbying for Usman for the position of senior team’s assistant coach. But Akhtar candidly said Usman was Manzoor and Rasheed’s “man” who supported coach Manzoor when Shahbaz Ahmad led a revolt against him weeks before 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

“On one hand there are people from Gojra while on the other there are Olympians such as Asif Bajwa and Rana Mujahid who are pitted against Naveed Alam with all kinds of dirty politics. Just imagine, Naveed always travels in Lahore with three gunmen.

“When the issue of Punjab Hockey Association was resolved in Lahore, guns were even trained by Naveed’s supporters at rival group which was also armed. How hockey will prosper in this situation and when people are trying their best to appoint favourites from their towns,” he questioned.

The former secretary said it was these tricky issues that he had to confront during his tenure and added hockey would never flourish because of groups of Olympians embattled against each other.

“A person named Khawar of National Bank was sent as coach for junior camp, while 35-year-old Wapda coach Imtiaz was included as a player for Asian Games training camp last year on Jamali’s orders.

“Now Qazi Masood, who is a clerk from Rajanpur, is included as senior team assistant manager. I say for God’s sake do not compromise at least in sports. How we will win World Cup or Olympic gold when PHF is involved in such compromises,” Akhtar said.

Akhtar, who blames Jamali of nepotism and favouritism, however admitted that senior team manager-cum-coach Islahuddin Siddiqui’s appointment was made after his consultation.

“Islah was indeed appointed after holding discussions with me. It was certainly not a decision taken only by Jamali,” conceded the former secretary.