National championship prize money to be decided in couple of days: Bajwa

KARACHI: PHF secretary Olympian Asif Bajwa has said that the PHF would decide the prize money for the National Hockey Championship in Rawalpindi on Tuesday (tomorrow).

He told ‘The News’ on Sunday that it was difficult to say anything about the amount of prize money. “We will decide this in couple of days,” he added.

The final of the championship will be played on November 20.

Bajwa said that after the championship, PHF would start preparation for the series between Pakistan Whites and Pakistan Juniors, under-16 championship, and national women championship.

He said that Pakistan Whites and Pakistan Juniors matches would be organised in December and January in Punjab, Sindh and KP. He said that there was a possibility that the number of matches between the two teams would increase. PHF has planned 7-9 matches between the two teams.

It is pertinent to mention that PHF is organising the series for the preparation of Junior Asia Cup 2021 in Bangladesh of which new schedule is yet to be announced. Pakistan senior team will participate in Asian hockey championship in March 2021, also in Bangladesh.

Bajwa further said that the under-16 championship would be organized in KP from November 28-December 10 at Ayub hockey stadium. There will be four teams from Punjab in the event, two each from KP and Sindh, and one each from Balochistan, Islamabad, and FATA. The 12th team will represent Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir.

National women championship will be held in December in KP.

He further said that due to the increase in the cases of Covid-19, PHF was facing difficulties in continuing the domestic competitions. He, however, said that PHF remained committed to continuing the domestic activities by adopting all the preventive measures because there was no alternative owing to lack of international competitions.

A coach told ‘The News’ that all other teams, including India, Japan, Malaysia, China, and Bangladesh, have started their training for Junior Asia Cup 2021 despite cases of Covid-19.