September 17, 2008	Wednesday	Ramazan 16, 1429

LAHORE, Sept 16: The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) has asked the Punjab Sports Department to change the National Hockey Stadium Astroturf as the present one was not fit for play.

PHF secretary Asif Bajwa told Dawn that he had written a letter to the Punjab Sports Department on Tuesday for the purpose.

“Changing of the turf is necessary since it is the main hockey ground of the country and hopefully the department will make necessary arrangements to change it as soon as possible,” he said.

Though Bajwa was not ready to make any comments on the present status of the synthetic turf, sources in the sports department said all investment made on the turf, just two months back to make it playable went in vain as the turf at one of the goalpost sides had been uprooted.

The department, sources said, in fact had made an unwise decision of repairing the turf at a cost of Rs2.5 million. In the repairing process, the department had also used patches with new pieces of turf alongside the boundary line.

The use of extra pitches had already made the ground unfit for international matches since the International Hockey Federation (FIH) rules do not allow any patch alongside the boundary, the sources said.