LAHORE: President of the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) Arif Hasan has written a letter to the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF), asking it to confirm its expression of interest for participation in the 2014 Asian Games by Dec 31, 2013, otherwise it will miss the chance to feature in the mega event.

The 17th edition of the Asian Games is scheduled to be staged in Incheon, South Korea from Sept 19 to Oct 4, 2014.

Pakistan are to defend the hockey title at the 2014 Games. The green-shirts won gold medal after 20 years in the 2010 Asiad held in Guangzhou, China.

The POA has asked the PHF to confirm the entries of 16 players and four to six officials by Dec 31.

However, it seems the PHF is hesitant in taking a decision on national team’s participation in Asiad, because the federation does not want to face opposition from Sports Minister Riaz Hussain Pirzada, who is supporting another POA group headed by Akram Sahi.

If the minister continues his support to Sahi group, the stance may again deprive national hockey team of participation in the Asiad. It is pertinent to recall that earlier Pirzada had not permitted the PHF to send the entry for next year’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, through Arif Hasan.

As the International Olympic Committee (IOC) only recognises Arif Hasan as genuine POA president, all the entries for Pakistan’s participation in international sports contests are required to go through him.

Despite knowing this well, the minister still tried to send the entries directly — bypassing Arif Hasan-led POA — both for the Commonwealth Games and the Islamic Solidarity Games, held in Palembang, Indonesia September-October this year.

While he failed to get the entries recognised for both the events, the step caused considerable harm to many genuine, hardworking sportspersons in Pakistan, who were denied a chance to test and improve their sporting skills while competing against tough opponents at the two prestigious multi-nation contests.

Now the subject of (sending) entries is again in discussion, for Asiad this time. However, so far there has been no clear indication from Pirzada to allow the PHF to send the entries through Arif Hasan group.

While the minister cites a Supreme Court decision as a reason for not recognising Arif Hasan as genuine POA president, according to the interpretation of an Islamabad court, the apex court decision does not affect Arif.

Interestingly, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had snubbed Pirzada by not accepting his summary on imposing ad hoc on the PHF and also by appointing Najam Sethi as Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman. Still, it appears that Pirzada is following the policy over the issue of the POA, which was made by the last regime of the PPP.