Shipment From Holland: FO refuses to get involved in hockey turf issue

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Office in Islamabad has refused to involve its embassy in The Hague (Holland) to oversee artificial hockey turf’s quality before its shipment to Pakistan, saying their officials did not have the required expertise in this respect.

‘The News’ has learnt from well-placed sources in the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) that the Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) wanted to involve the Pakistan Embassy in The Hague to ensure that the shipped artificial turfs were of required standard.

“The Foreign Office has turned down our request to oversee the quality of artificial turfs in Holland. Their point of view is that they were not having any technical knowhow to judge the quality, nor is there any expert in The Hague Embassy to ensure this. The Foreign Office has simply refused to get involved in the purchase in any way,” a PSB official said.

Besides Bunda Hockey Ground artificial turf, there are a few other grounds in the country which are waiting for the shipment for timely installation.

The turf work at the Bunda Hockey Ground has already taken unnecessary delay. The ideal venue for the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) to organise national camps was supposed to be ready for inauguration in June this year. However, the Covid-19 pandemic has delayed the import from Holland.

When asked what would be the next option available for the timely shipment of the turf so that the national team could start their training?

The PSB official revealed that four officials’ names have been finalised with one expected to visit Holland in near future to check the quality and to give go ahead to the shipment. These include one of the PSB ambitious officials, two from the IPC Ministry and one from the hockey federation.

“Nothing has been finalised as yet as to who would be directed to visit Holland for the purpose. The ministry is also considering other options and these include getting experts’ services without investing any money.”

The work to prepare the base at the Rs98 million Bunda Hockey Ground project is almost in final stages.

The new turf is of utmost importance for the national players. With boarding and lodging facilities around, the site had been catering the requirements of players for almost 30 years now. The training here played an instrumental role in preparing the world champions national side in 1994.

The PHF has also written a letter to the PSB recently stressing the need for early completion of the project as the federation plans to organise a national training camp at the venue.

“Because of the most suitable environment for training, we are planning to establish a national training camp at the venue. An early completion of the project would definitely help us in this regard. We hope that the project will get its final shape within a couple of months’ time helping us start the national team’s activities here,” a letter written by the federation says.

The government has already given go ahead to restart hockey activities, a timely completion of work at the Bunda Ground would help organise camps and events at the venue.