Shahbaz resigns as PHF secretary

KARACHI: Shahbaz Ahmed has resigned as Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) secretary in disgust over the step-motherly treatment being meted out to the national sport in the country.

“When the government and ministry of inter-provincial coordination don’t have either the time or funds for our national game then I also don’t have time for hockey,” Shahbaz wrote in his resignation which he submitted to PHF on Saturday.

PHF had been facing a lot of criticism since the poor show in the World Cup in India.

The manager and coaches had had already resigned.

A majority of senior players are unlikely to be called for the training camp ahead of the FIH Pro League.

Shahbaz said that in the current scenario he could not deliver good results when minister for IPC Fahmida Mirza did not have time to meet with officials managing the affairs of the national game.

He said it was not possible for hockey to progress when the authorities were unwilling to listen to the PHF bosses.

“From the day one I have told in many interviews in past that the national hockey team players who participated in the World Cup, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games and other international events were not skilful and talented enough to challenge the supremacy of big hockey giants. A big gap has been created between us and top hockey teams. And to fill this gape we would have to do work hard and go for a long period. But here . . . no one has tolerance and (people) do not understand the present time demands in the international hockey.

“They wanted success and gold medals but were not ready to give funds to run the national game. “Now I have resigned (so those) who wanted to promote the game (can be) appointed for the betterment of hockey in the country.

“Hockey needed massive funds to flourish in Pakistan again. The coming youth whom I (Shahbaz) worked with are the hope of Pakistan hockey,” he added.

Shahbaz, a former captain, said since becoming the secretary he had always stressed the need to have a proper system in place to generate funds.

“What is the use of my spending time in the PHF when in these last three years we have had to literally beg for funds most of the time? The government appears to have no interest in reviving hockey in the country,” he said.

“I kept on reminding the government that we need to restructure the hockey system in the country. We need to have a system where we have ample funds for the players,” said Shahbaz, who played an important role in bringing international hockey back to the country. He managed to bring a World XI and 10 foreign goalkeepers to play in the country.