Senators want due weightage for hockey

ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) Tuesday asked the authorities concerned to give due weightage to the national sport, enabling the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) to revive it.

Majority of the Senators during the committee’s meeting stressed that there was a need to promote the national sport. PHF secretary Asif Bajwa briefed the committee on the plight of the game and the government’s attitude towards hockey during the last three years.

“We received Rs1.5 million from the government in the shape of normal grant during the last three years while Indian hockey received thousand time more funds. Our corporate sector too never came forward to help hockey,” he said.

The PHF secretary said there could be no comparison between Pakistan and other countries when it comes to availability of hockey facilities. “Holland has over 16 artificial turfs while in Pakistan we just have 12 playable surfaces,” he added.

Bajwa added that hockey suffered a lot in the near past. “We had no money to compete in the FIH Pro League. As a result, we were fined and denied a place in the Olympics. We need government’s support to streamline the hockey affairs. Our players need financial backing. Our national team needs 25 to 30 international matches in a year to attain a minimum standard required at international level. The lack of funds restricted our development,” he said.

Senator Mohammad Yaqoob, who heads the Standing Committee, expressed his surprise and said that stakeholders must come forward to support the national game. “We need to promote hockey by investing in the game. School and departmental hockey should be promoted and players must get financial security,” he said.

The committee expressed annoyance with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) as neither Chairman Ehsan Mani nor Chief Executive Wasim Khan came to the meeting. “They should have been here to brief us on domestic cricket. The next meeting will be exclusively on cricket’s domestic structure changes. If the chairman was away, Wasim should have been here to brief us.”

Nadeem Khan and Junaid Zia represented PCB in the meeting. However, none of them were allowed to speak.

Though squash and boxing officials were also present, their briefing was deferred for next meeting.