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02 September 2004
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Thursday
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16 Rajab 1425
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NHS unlikely to be ready for Indians series
By Our Sports Correspondent
LAHORE, Sept 1: National Hockey Stadium (NHS), the venue of the fourth match of the home leg of a series against arch-rivals India on Oct 1, is unlikely to host the game because of slow pace of work by Communication and Works Department.
Punjab government has allocated Rs25 million for the refurbishing of the stadium and its offices and set Aug 31 as last date for the completion of the work for Champions Trophy to be played from Dec 3 to 12.
But a dispute between Punjab government's Communication and Works Department and the contractor over increase of the cost delayed the project. The work is being supervised by C&W Department.
The work finally started three months ago setting up a new date for its completion, some time in October. Later the programme of the proposed series against India materialized and PHF planned to host the fourth game at NHS.
At the moment, stadium is in a bad shape with construction material spread all over. New seats are yet to be installed, while changing rooms are to be renovated. The work to install two lifts at the main gate for VVIPs is still unfinished and two new VIP enclosures are being constructed with only 50 per cent work completed.
Besides the press gallery and Punjab Sports Board offices, situated at the stadium, are also to be refurbished. Although conference hall has been renovated, it has been converted into a store by the contractor.
Punjab sports minister Naeemullah Shahani, however, claimed that renovation of stadium from inside would be completed by Sept 25. To make matters worse, PHF has decided that the fourth match of the series will be played on the old polygrass which has been rejected by the FIH as a sub-standard surface for Champions Trophy.
Earlier, PHF had planned to lay the new surface before Pakistan-India match to check it before the six-nation competition. PHF is responsible for laying the new pitch at NHS, although the venue is the property of the Punjab Sports Board which has contacted few companies to clean the dust from the polygrass before the fixture.
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