Mehwish Hayat pays surprise visit to hockey stadium in Karachi

KARACHI: Renowned film and TV artist Mehwish Hayat has announced to work on promotion of the game of hockey in the country and said she wanted to be focused on this national game which is being neglected for many years.

She said this while making a surprise visit to the Abdul Sattar Edhi Hockey Stadium on Friday evening to witness the ongoing matches of the National Hockey Championship.

The showbiz star arrived at the stadium with her brother to give a pleasant surprise to people, players and the tournament officials there.

Mehwish was welcomed by hockey legends Hanif Khan, Iftekhar Saeed and Haider Hussain at the stadium.

The tournament officials briefed her on the National Hockey Championship, which is being played there .

She also met the players and coaches participating in the tournament, asking if they needed any support.

Former Pakistan captain Rehan Butt suggested that showbiz stars should give hockey players an equal amount of importance as they give to cricketers.

Mehwish Hayat, who has recently been awarded the Tamgha-e-Imtiaz by the President of Pakistan, said : "We talk a lot about cricket. We must realise that we have won more titles in hockey than in cricket. We have won four World Cups and three Olympic titles".

She further said: “We are too much focused on cricket. Hockey needs our focus as well".

Mehwish urged the government to take drastic steps to revive hockey in Pakistan.

The award-winning artist agreed that showbiz celebrities must play a role to support all the neglected sports by highlighting the achievements on their respective forums.

She added that mainstream media and social media attention is very important to help any sports grow.

The film/TV artist also played hockey for a while for which former Pakistan player Haider Hussain gave her some tips.