PHF to only focus on ‘important’ assignments

KARACHI: The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) believes that its decision of not participating in the Champions Trophy 2016, to be played in London from June 10-17, will allow it to save a significant amount of money, which could instead be used for other more important tasks, a PHF official told ‘The News’ on Tuesday.

“Participating in the Champions Trophy would have cost the federation a huge amount of money and that with no potential benefit for the team as they were to play only five matches,” he said.

“Instead, we can now use this money to bolster the preparations of the national team for more important tasks like the qualifying rounds of Men’s World Cup, Rio Olympics and Junior World Cup along with improving our domestic hockey,” he added.

“It would have been an injustice with the boys and hurt their confidence if we had made them face tougher opponents at this stage as the team is already passing through a phase of rebuilding.”

He praised the PHF’s current management for its efforts to bring confidence of all stakeholders back, which has resulted in federal government starting to provide funds and new sponsorship deals.

“During the last eight months, a number of domestic tournaments were staged including the national senior and junior hockey championships, which also enabled the players to earn a handsome amount in prize money,” he said.

It may be noted that the PHF is planning to organise various international hockey matches for both senior and junior outfits before the qualifying rounds of both the Junior hockey World Cup in 2016 and seniors’ World Cup in 2017.

Apart from that, several other domestic events including school hockey, five-a-side and nine-a-side tournaments are among the plans and only require appropriate funding.

Olympian Qamar Zia — a staunch critic of the previous two PHF setups — also endorsed the federations’ decision of not participating in the Champions Trophy.

“Instead of wasting this money on just five matches, and also risking shaking the confidence of its players, the PHF should focus on preparing the senior and junior teams for other more important future assignments,” Qamar said.

“The Junior Hockey World Cup is vital for Pakistan hockey and we should concentrate on its preparations,” he concluded.