I didn’t recommend Shahbaz, says PHF chief

KARACHI: pakistan’s hockey chief Brig (rtd) Khalid Khokhar has said that newly appointed secretary Shahbaz Ahmed Senior was not his nomination and Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali had recommended his name but later turned against his appointment.
Addressing a press conference at the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) head office in Lahore, along with Shahbaz, he said Shahbaz was not appointed on his nomination. It had been done on Jamali’s suggestion but after two days he himself turned against the appointment of Shahbaz, he said.
Khokhar said that Jamali was like his elder brother and he would listen to his proposals carefully.
He said they were giving extraordinary attention to the preparation of national junior team’s preparation. He said they had noticed during the training camp of juniors that their physical fitness was far from satisfactory.
Khokhar said that the junior team’s training camp would be shifted to Abbottabad in the last stage to improve their physical fitness.
He said that PHF would have to do a lot of work across the country to improve the condition of the national game.
He said that there would be no hindrance in releasing the funds for sending junior hockey team and other assignments of PHF, as the government had promised PHF smooth flow of funds.
He said that PHF would establish its marketing department and that details in this respect would be announced soon. He said that PHF was not relying only on funds provided by the government. He said that PHF would help those Olympians who are running academies in different cities of the country like that of Islahuddin in Karachi, Tauqir Dar academy and Gojra’s academy. “All these academies are serving hockey and we can find fresh talent from these academies,” he said.
He said that PHF would establish its website and everything related to the national game would be available on that.
The PHF website’s preparation is in final stage and soon it would be inaugurated, he said.
Shahbaz said that restoration of school hockey was the need of the hour and PHF would organise inter-school events so that the national game could be promoted at the grassroots level.