It’s unfortunate that the present generation in all spheres of life, including the sports organisations, have not learnt the finer points from their predecessors to carry forward good traditions. The Quaid-i-Azam Gold Cup hockey tournament held under the auspices of Customs Preventive Collectorate at their own sports complex recently was no exception.

Senior sports journalists of the city, who have frequently covered mega sporting events in the metropolis in the yore, will agree on the deteriorating standards. We, the sports journalist, come across such organisers regularly who can’t communicate proper results and they fail to mend their ways despite repeated reminders.

For instance, the then Collector Customs Khalil Masood used to invite newsmen every now and then at the present site of the Customs Sports Complex to brief them about the development plans following removal of encroachments in 1988-1989. The Customs PRO, the late Baqauddin, who enjoyed good relationship with working journalists provided the pick and drop service at the Karachi Press Club.

Customs did a commendable job by laying a new astro turf at its sports complex and decided to revive the prestigious Quaid’s Gold Cup after a layoff in 1989. The inaugural event was held way back in 1955 at Customs recreation ground adjacent to the Customs House in West Wharf. Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah graced the finals.

Hockey, once used to be the hallmark of Customs, has been suffering due to inept organisers which is evident from the fact that there was no word about laying of second synthetic pitch sometimes back and leading newspapers and media concerns was not invited at the press conference to unveil details of the recent Quaid-i-Azam Gold Cup.

Of late, a trend of email and sms have been developed by organisers and by sending messages they believe that they have done their job. At times, organisers also hide information from newsmen.

Despite handsome prizes, both in cash and kind including brand new Toyota GLI at offer for the winning team, the standard of game was mediocre besides staying away of some good teams.

True, back-to-back lucrative tournaments — Chief of the Army Staff at Rawalpindi and Quaid-i-Azam Gold Cup at Karachi — held last month has raised hopes for the revival of domestic hockey but at the same time there’s a long silence from the government pertaining to release of grants to the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF).

The Azlan Shah Cup being held in Malaysia is round the corner and in the absence of adequate funds, the PHF was finding it difficult to send the team. It may be mentioned that Pakistan had also skipped the same event last year. This will be followed by the 2016 Rio Olympic qualifiers at Antwerp, Belgium, from June 20 to July 5.

Silver medals at the Incheon Asian Games and Bhubaneswar Champions Trophy is no mean achievement. The players have been demoralised due to lack of recognition by the government. They need a pat on their back and perks to raise their morale. They are surviving on individual cash rewards.

Customs is required to play an effective role in a big way at this juncture as it used to do during the glorious past. They should ink a deal with the PHF and own the national sport. One hopes that the department will induct young blood in hockey team and fully utilise the astro turf besides making the Quaid-i-Azam Gold an annual feature from now onwards like in horse racing at the Karachi Racecourse.

Published in Dawn March 8th , 2015

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