Indian hockey chief stirs controversy after Pakistan’s victory

NEW DELHI: India´s field hockey chief on Sunday demanded an apology from the Pakistan team for what he called "uncouth behaviour" after their 4-3 win over the hosts in the Champions Trophy semi-final.

But Narinder Batra, who heads Hockey India, wrote on his Facebook page he would not schedule any bilateral matches with the neighbours unless the Pakistan Hockey Federation issued an "unconditional apology."

Tournament director Wiert Doyer, who investigated the incident, let off the players without any action after Pakistan coach Shahnaz Sheikh apologised on their behalf.

Batra also lashed out at the International Hockey Federation (FIH) for not taking action against the Pakistanis and threatened not to host world meets in future.

"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," he wrote.

However, Secretary Pakistan Hockey Federation said Pakistan was ready to host events.

Moreover, Chief Coach Shahnaz Sheikh said Pakistani in written statement that they players tendered an apology and said that "the behavior of our players should not have occurred.