Islamic Solidarity Games: PHF refuses to bear travel expenses of hockey team

ISLAMABAD: As the deadline for submitting entries for the 5th Islamic Solidarity Games is approaching, the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) has turned down the proposal of bearing travel expenses in case the federal government backs out at the last moment.

The Games are set to be staged in Turkey from August 20-29, 2021. All the countries interested in competing in different events have to confirm their entries by May 15, 2020. Hockey is an event where Pakistan can expect winning gold as only Malaysia would be their strong opponents in their quest to win the top spot at victory stand.

‘The News’, however, has learnt that the PHF has refused to sponsor the national team in case the government steps back at the eleventh hour. The federal government has always financed the contingent to the Islamic Games in the past as these Games are meant to project image of Islamic countries but anything bad could be expected under the non-professional working of the Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination these days.

“Though hockey is a potential medal-winning game at the Islamic Solidarity Games, we don’t have eno­ugh finances to cater the requir­ements of boarding and lodging of the national squad. Though it has never happened before as the contingent always competed under the national flag but in case of no support from the government, we will not send hockey team to the Games,” a PHF official, when contacted, said.

The official added that for many years the PHF has not received any financial support from the gover­n­m­ent. “We ha­v­en’t received any normal grant from the government for over two years now what to talk about the special grant that we kept on getting off and on in the past. Since ho­c­key is a national sport, the go­v­ernment has always come fo­rward to support it in the past.”

The PHF official said Pakistan have to compete in some important events in the months to come. “Like every other sports in the world, Pak­istan hockey is also waiting for the end of COVID-19 pan­demic. Once things get better, we have planned big activities on domestic and international level. As such we would be needing finances to carry out these activities. I don’t think we would be in a position to finance team’s trip to Turkey. We are one of favourites to win gold in the Games.”

The Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) has planned to send entries in 18 different sports disciplines. “Since the Olympics has already been postponed, chances are there that the Islamic Games might be rescheduled. Nobody knows at this point of time whether Turkey would decide to host the event a bit early or on later dates,” the POA official said.

He added that the POA always kept a backup plan to avoid fines and other liabilities in case of no show.