U-20 Qalandars hockey c’ship from mid-Ramadan

KARACHI: Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) will organise under-20 Qalandars hockey championship from the middle of Ramadan at Karachi Hockey Complex (KHA) sports complex, where a new synthetic turf has been laid and floodlights have been installed, 'The News' has learnt.

All matches will be organised at night under floodlights and will be telecast live, sources said. The final schedule and other details will be announced next week.

Sources said that talks had been going on between Qalandars CEO Atif Rana and PHF secretary Haider Hussain since the Qalandar hockey development programme was launched in Karachi and finally it was decided that Lahore Qalandars would sponsor the under-20 championship.

Sources said that Rana informed Haider that he would bear the expenditure of junior championship after he saw the number of young hockey players who appeared in the trials for the Qalandar development programme and learnt that national junior championship had not been held for two years and the Green-shirts were to play some important international competitions this year.

It is pertinent to mention here that PHF failed to organise domestic competitions, including junior-level contests, on regular basis due to financial crisis. Pakistan are to participate in Junior Asia Cup this year which is the qualifying round for the Junior World Cup.