POA asks PHF to probe harassment allegation

KARACHI: The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) has received a communiqué from the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) about the alleged harassment during national women’s hockey team.
The POA has asked the PHF to probe the alleged incident which is said to have happened in October, ‘The News’ has learnt. Informed sources said that the POA had written the letter to the PHF, asking about the issue on the directives of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Pakistan’s former goalkeeper Syeda Sadia accused the team’s head coach Saeed Khan of “harassment and sexual assault”. Sadia, who is also the captain of the Railways hockey team, alleged that Saeed harassed and assaulted her on the night of October 8 after an argument.
On the next day, Saeed and Tanzeela Aamer Cheema, who is PHF’s Women Wing secretary, rejected the allegations at a press conference. Sadia had not been selected for Women’s Asia Challenge in Brunei.
Sadia wrote to the PHF demanding “justice”. In a video message sent to media representatives, she demanded that the authorities look into the matter and fire Saeed immediately.
The IOC wants to know what had happened to the player and what action had been taken in this regard. The sources said the PHF had constituted a three-member committee to probe the matter. The committee is headed by Col (rtd) Ahmed Nawaz and includes Arshad Butt and Rahat Khan. The sources said the committee had started working.