Attractive prizes announced for winners of Azadi Hockey Cup

RAWALPINDI: Every member of the winning team in the first Mari Petroleum (MPCL) Azadi Hockey Cup will be awarded 100cc motorcycle while the runner-up team’s members will get 70cc motorbike.

The hockey event will get under way from tomorrow (Sunday) here at the Mari Petroleum Hockey Stadium located in Ayub Park.

“For the first time each member of the winning team will be awarded 100cc motorbike having a price of Rs125,000 while the runners-up will get 75cc motorbike each. Each player of the 18-member squad will get a bike,” Col Mohsin, organising secretary of the event told ‘The News’.

The organisers are expected to spend over Rs5 million on the event besides taking care of other organisational matter.

Mohsin added that it was just a start to make the game of hockey popular in the country.

“The MPCL besides other numerous welfare projects also takes a lot of pride in supporting the various national sports like cricket, golf, squash, tennis and hockey. Hockey being the national sport of the country takes precedence over all other sports and in 2018 it was decided to create its own hockey team having its own playing infrastructure. The main purpose of this exercise was to support and uplift the national hockey whose performance has gone considerably down at international competitions.”

The Azadi Cup will be organised at Mari Stadium from August 8-15 and will be participated by eight top-ranked teams.

Participating teams include Wapda, National Bank, Sui Southern Gas Company, Navy, MPCL, PAF, Punjab, and Army.

Gold medalist at 1984 Olympics Ayaz Mehmood has been appointed Tournament Director by the PHF while International Technical Officers Muhammad Shafiq Bhatti (Lahore) and Muhammad Yaseen (Rawalpindi) will be the assistant tournament directors.

The tournament’s officers include Dr SA Majid (Karachi), M. Javed Sadiq (MEPCO), Hamza Tufail (Peshawar), Aslam Shah (Okara), Muhammad Ali (Quetta), Ikramul Haq (Nankana Sahib), Ghulam Mustafa (Hyderabad), Murtaza. Bhatti (MPCL), Zulfiqar Hussain (Sukkur), Muhammad Ashraf (Islamabad), Haroon Saeed (DG Khan), Naseer Ahmad Mughal (Islamabad), Nisar Aslam (MPCL), Haji Naeem (MPCL), M Muneeb (MPCL), Dawar Ali (MPCL), Mehboob Alam (MPCL) and Shahid Gul (Faisalabad) will perform their professional duties during the event.

FIH Umpires Manager Rashid Mehmood Butt has been assigned as the event’s umpires manager while Ehsanul Haq (Rawalpindi) and Dilawar Hussain Bhatti (Wapda) will be the assistant umpires manager.

The umpiring panel comprises Abdul Manan (Hyderabad), Mehmood Ali (PIA), Haroon Rashid (Peshawar), Sibtain Raza (National Bank), Abdul Wali (Quetta), Mohammad Imran (Bahawalpur), Takrim Iftikhar (Karachi), Mohammad Bilal (Army), Asad Abbas (Army) and Zahid Hameed (Wapda).

Lt Col (r) Asif Naz Khokhar has been appointed as the coordinator of the Pakistan Hockey Federation while Habibur Rehman Satti will be the assistant coordinator. The PHF appointed Syed Ali Abbas as Media Coordinator of the event.