Zahir Shah elected as KP hockey chief

ISLAMABAD: Zahir Shah took over the charge as new president Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Hockey Association following the elections held in Peshawar on Friday.

The elections, which were monitored by Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) and KP Sports Board and KP Olympic Association, saw Zahir Shah getting elected unanimously for the next four years. All the 13 provincial districts voted in favour of him.

Saeed Khan has retained his position as chairman while Haji Hidayatullah was named as secretary KPK Hockey in place of Zahir Shah.Later talking to ‘The News’, Zahir Shah promised to uphold the high tradition of KPK Hockey by retaining its image as the busiest and most effective provincial hockey association.

“We served the game at a time when it fall victim to growing interest of youth in cricket. Still we managed to attract good number of hockey players for our junior as well as senior strings. I believe with bit of extra hard work and government interest we would be in a position to stage renaissance of the game not only in KP but in entire country.”

Zahir Shah, who was elected to the post of KP Hockey president for the very first time, thanked all the districts for reposing trust in him. “I am thankful to all district representatives, my chairman Saeed Khan and all other stakeholders for reposing trust in me. I would make all out efforts to enhance the image of game in the province.”

The provincial association’s elections were conducted following the completion of district hockey associations’ elections in whole province.“I also congratulate successful candidates from the entire province. The democratic process is now complete,” he said.

Maj (r) Afzal (PHF) acted as the election commissioner with Azizullah Khan (KP Sports Board), Kafaitullah Oragzai (KP Olympic rep) and Amjad Khan (KP badminton) acted as observers.Other office-bearers elected to different posts included Malik Wadan (senior vice president), Haq Nawaz (vice president), Manzoor Ahmad (joint secretary) and Abdullah (finance secretary).Executive body: Mohammad Yousaf, Shaheen Yousafzai, Dr Liaqat, Mohammad Shoaib Jahangir, Haji Nawaz and Sajjad Ali.