No Pakistani to officiate in Tokyo Olympics hockey

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s name has been missing from the extended list of almost 45 officials, finalised by the International Hockey Federation (FIH) to officiate the 2020 Tokyo Olympics men’s and women’s hockey events.

While the fate of Pakistan men’s team for the Olympics depends on the outcome of October 26-27 matches against Holland, there will be no Pakistani official to be seen officiating the game in any capacity during the forthcoming Tokyo Olympics.

Besides dominating the game in the past, Pakistan used to dictate terms on the administrative front of the FIH with majority of field umpires, jury officials, judges and other related staff coming from the country that has given so much to the field hockey.

The FIH has totally ignored Pakistani officials for the Olympics this time. The list has seen officials coming from the countries where hardly the game of hockey is played. Officials from Singapore, Hong Kong, Zimbabwe and Czech Republic are part of the list that has been finalised to cover the 2020 Olympics.

The names of Pakistani officials are missing despite the fact that the country is being represented on the FIH’s Executive Board by none other than Shahbaz Ahmed Senior. All such appointments have to get FIH Board’s approval. Surprisingly, no efforts were made to ensure Pakistan’s presence in the mega hockey event.

When ‘The News’ asked the question from sitting Secretary Asif Bajwa, he admitted that it was a lengthy process.“Yes, it is a matter of concern and immediately after taking over the position of secretary PHF, I stressed on the requirements of grooming umpires and other support staff for international events. This is one of my priorities. You need good representations on all the fronts at international level to get the best deal for your country’s hockey,” he said.

Bajwa added that there was a lot to do on this front.“Under the instructions of Brig (r) Khalid Sajjad Khokhar we will soon be finalising a plan where top aspirants are to be sent for international hockey courses abroad. Their international experience and exposure will help us raise bunch of umpires and other related support staff.”

One has to admit that during the last three to four years nothing has been done on this front and the result has thus not been favorable to Pakistan cause.The FIH confirmed that all the appointed officials came from the FIH Pro League panels.

While performance was the primary selection criteria, the officials committee also looked, as a secondary consideration, at the geographic spread of the officials to ensure that all continents are represented.