LAHORE: Lack of funds was the main reason which forced the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) to withdraw the senior team from the Azlan Shah Hockey Tournament, which is being held in Ipoh, Malaysia from March 13.

The PHF on Friday quietly informed the organisers about the withdrawal without giving any reasons, but sources told Dawn that the federation has empty accounts and it was unable to bear the expenditure of the training camp and the cost to send the team to Malaysia.

Akhtar Rasool, who was elected as PHF president recently, has been struggling to get funds from both the federal and Punjab governments.

Although Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif announced a grant of Rs100 million for the PHF, the amount has yet to be transferred to the PHF kitty.

The game of hockey has been suffering a lot due to government apathy, which is not ready to come ahead and save it.

The PHF has also earned bad name as the previous government of PPP had pumped billions of rupees into its accounts in the last four years of Qasim Zia, but few successes were achieved in that period.

The government’s conflict with the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) over the implementation of the national sports policy-2005 has also deprived the national hockey team of participation in this year’s Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games.