PHF to answer HI offer today

KARACHI: Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) has offered financial help to Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) which suspended the seniors training camp earlier in the week because it could not pay its players and coaches their daily allowances.
The offer came on the heels of a statement by a federal minister of Pakistan that Rs1 billion had been given to PHF during last five years.
When this scribe contacted the PHF, the authorities said that due to holiday, PHF office was closed and all high-ups would meet and respond to the IHF’s offer on Monday (today).
Sources in the PHF also expressed surprise on the Indian offer and said that they (Indians) were not ready to play bilateral series with Pakistan, not even at a neutral venue or on their own soil.
“They did not even allow our players to play in the Indian Hockey League (IHL),” said a source. “It is very surprising that they have offered to bear the expenditure of our participation in Olympics,” the source said.
PHF president Akhtar Rasool recently appealed to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to release funds, mentioning that the founder of the country, Quaid-e-Azam Muhamad Ali Jinnah, had made hockey the national game and that it had won more than 65 gold medals, including three in Olympics.
The PHF officials have failed to meet the PM despite repeated attempts in the recent months. A meeting between PM and players, coaching staff and PHF office bearers has been scheduled and rescheduled on multiple occasions since late last year. It showed, the sources said, that the government did not have confidence in PHF leadership.
Minister for information and broadcasting Pervaiz Rasheed said that larger funds had been provided to PHF than other sports bodies.
The minister said PHF should not only think about administrative expenditures but also concentrate on the uplift of players and their performance.
He said PHF had not utilised the said amount for training of the players and the senior players also had reservations about it.
A couple of days ago, PHF closed the training camp of senior players saying it did not have money to pay daily allowance to players and the coaching staff, but sources said the real reason was injuries to eight players that occurred owing to bad condition of the turf at Naseer Bunda stadium.
PHF top officials were hoping that the government would come under pressure and release funds.
“The issue of Indian offer is not so simple as it seems,” a Pakistani Olympian, who opposes the current administration of PHF, said.
In a letter to PHF secretary Rana Mujahid, IHF secretary general Mohd Mushtaque Ahmad said it was “willing to bail out the PHF” so that their players could take part in the Olympics qualifying round.
“I have gone through press news coverage ... in case you are unable to raise resources for the training of the team for the World League Round 3 to be played in Belgium, which is also an Olympic Qualification tournament for the Pakistan team, we are still willing to approach Government of India or our sponsors and well wishers to bail out the PHF and our neighbour out of this difficult situation, so that we have a healthy competition amongst us in Rio 2016,” Mushtaque Ahmad said in the mail.
India had suspended bilateral hockey series with Pakistan after the controversial semi-final clash at Champions Trophy in Bhubaneswar last year citing “vulgar and obscene” celebrations by the Pakistani players after they had beaten the home side 4-3.
Olympian Samiullah, when contacted, said, “We have been saying for the past several years that PHF is in the hands of narrow-minded persons who have no vision and who only benefited themselves and their cronies. So poor is the situation that the countries who were not ready to play with us are offering to bail us out. What a pity it is.”
Another critic of the PHF said it was deplorable that the government was not taking any action in this regard. “I do not know when the government will get up and when it will take action. The minister has said that more than Rs1 billion was given to them. Now who will take action and do audit of this amount’s expenditure. Is the government waiting for another email from somebody to help in the audit of our own money?” he said.