Hockey team’s meeting with PM deferred yet again

KARACHI: Once again the scheduled meeting of Pakistan hockey team members and PHF officials with PM Nawaz Sharif has been postponed and according to the new schedule it will be held on March 3, ‘The News’ has learnt.
It is the third time that the meeting of the PHF officials and Green-shirts with the PM has been postponed.
The players have not received salaries and other benefits for one year and a half. Besides, they have also not been paid prize money for silver medal in Asian Games 2014, silver medal in Champions Trophy 2014 and gold medal in Asian Champions Trophy 2012.
PHF and the players were hoping to get their issues resolved through this meeting.
Due to the lack of funds, Pakistan national senior hockey team’s preparation for the Olympics 2016 qualifying round has been severely affected, PHF sources said.
A PHF official confirmed that the meeting that was to be held on Wednesday (today) has been postponed.
PHF has been informed that the new date of the meeting is March 3, he said.
Hockey sources expressed disappointment over the meeting postponement. They said that the meeting with the PM had been made a joke and it should be investigated who had scheduled the meetings which were always postponed.
“The PM of the country is the patron in chief of PHF. If he does not meet the national hockey team players, then who else will care,” asked a former Olympian. “They are still waiting for the prize money of the Asian Games and the Champions trophy,” he said.
The ministry of IPC had claimed that it was taking revolutionary steps for the promotion of sports in the country, but it failed to organise a meeting with the PM even after the team won two back-to-back silver medals.
The sources said that the meeting was possible on February 12 during the PM’s visit to Karachi as a number of the players are in the city due to the ongoing Quaid-e-Azam Gold Cup hockey tournament.