Inaction on probe committee report paralyses hockey

KARACHI: A member of the probe committee set up by the Prime Minister after Pakistan’s failure to qualify for Olympics 2016 said on Monday that they were surprised why the government had not yet announced its decisions about the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF). Requesting anonymity, he told ‘The News’ that as far as the committee’s job was concerned, it had done it weeks ago.
The Olympians who have been running a campaign against the PHF officials for more than two years were hoping that PM Nawaz Sharif would announce some good news about the national game on the occasion of August 14.
But the government did not announce anything related to hockey. It did not even bother to organise an exhibition match of the national game on August 14.
Olympian Qamar Zia said they had been hoping that the government would announce the final verdict about the PHF, but perhaps the country’s political situation did not allow the government to take any action on the PM-appointed committee’s report.
After the failure of the seniors, people have pinned their hopes on the juniors to do something better for Pakistan hockey.
The probe committee’s report on the failure of the Green-shirts was submitted to the PM secretariat more than two weeks ago.
Only a few days are left before the Asia Cup 2015 in Malaysia but PHF and the ministry of IPC have done nothing about it.
The Asia Cup 2015 is also the qualifying round for the next Junior Hockey World Cup 2016, scheduled to be held in India next year.
Pakistan must play the final of the Junior Asia Cup 2015 to save their berth in the Junior World Cup, sources said.
“What is the fault of the junior team which is suffering for past several months? Their competitions are nearing but they are not in action due to the lethargy of the authorities,” said a former Olympian.
Sources said that Pakistan was in total isolation in the hockey world. Besides, the domestic events were also not being organized, they said.
All junior players have been inactive since October 2014. The former national junior selection committee selected 35 players but their training camp remains suspended for several months.
The junior team failed to reach the quarter-finals of the 2013 World Cup.
No schedule has been announced for the training of juniors and nobody knows who will be the coach and the assistant coaches.
In April, the national junior hockey championship was played in Karachi, but PHF did nothing to pick fresh talented players from the competitions.
Before the World Cup, the junior team is to visit some European countries for honing their skills, but no schedule has been announced of trials and training.
Olympians said the ministry of IPC should organise a training camp for the probable junior players so that their preparations could be initiated.
They said that it would be horrible if Pakistan’s junior team failed to qualify for the World Cup 2016.