Pakistan to contest Champions Trophy scrapping

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) president Brig (rtd) Khalid Khokhar has urged newly-elected International Hockey Federation (FIH) officials to revive Men’s Champions Trophy.

The PHF president along with secretary PHF Shahbaz Senior returned home after attending the FIH Congress in Dubai that elected new office bearers for the next four years.

The PHF president said he had expressed his dismay over the FIH’s decision to terminate the Champions Trophy, which had been a regular feature of the hockey calendar since 1978.

“The Champions Trophy was a brainchild of Pakistan. The main purpose of the Trophy was to keep the game at par with other sports and to attract maximum viewing. It was surprising that FIH had decided to dump the event without taking the founders of the event in confidence. We have not only expressed our dismay over the decision but also urged the newly-elected office bearers to revive the event,” Khokhar said while talking to ‘The News’.

The PHF President said that hockey was the first to introduce a Champions Trophy. “When late Noor Khan floated the idea of Champions Trophy way back in seventies, it was grabbed with both hands. This idea was later adopted by the governing bodies of cricket and other sports. We received positive response from some countries’ officials,” he claimed.

The PHF won the rights of hosting their part of bilateral series at home or at a neutral venue. “We should have all rights to host our part of the bilateral series wherever we want to host it. Whether we host it at home or at a neutral place, the prerogative should be with PHF. The FIH think tank has accepted our stance, confirming that Pakistan will have all the rights of hosting,” Khokhar said.

Asked why he did not contest FIH Executive Committee elections, Khokhar said: “Our first priority is to keep our house in order. As the president of the PHF my first priority is to keep hockey on sound footing in Pakistan. Contesting election, leaving the real job at home, would have been an unwise decision,” Khokhar said. He said that once things settled down at home, the PHF would make efforts to take international strides.