Imran hits back at former hockey players

LAHORE: Former national hockey team captain Mohammad Imran has hit back at the former international players and Olympians for doing nothing for the game.

Recently former secretary Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) Col Mudassar Asghar suggested handing PHF to Army Chief while former Olympian Samiullah criticised the federation for its ill-planning and politicising the sport.

Imran said that the critics have done nothing for the national game. In an interview he stated that Pakistan hockey needs a proper roadmap of development from grassroots level to regain its lost ground and these former players just criticised, doing nothing themselves.

“There is a lot of hockey talent in remote areas, which can be found by setting up hockey centres in Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Multan, Sahiwal, Okara, Chakwal, Peshawar, Abbottabad, Sindh and Balochistan,” said Imran.

He praised the PHF for the COVID allowance for the players. “The PHF has made a very good decision by giving COVID allowance to players,” said the former captain.

Imran also sounded disheartened for not having received words of praise from the then Prime Minister when Pakistan beat India and his team also played in the Champions Trophy final in India in 2014.

He further stated that in 2014, Pakistan hockey got a golden opportunity to rise, but the government did not pay attention and a few months later, Pakistan was out of the Olympics.

Imran also revealed that a single hockey tour or tournament costs more than Rs 20 million and Pakistan hockey suffered a lot for not playing the Pro League. “And our ranking went down from 12th to 17th,” he added.