KARACHI: The organisers take journalists for a ride. This is evident from their attitude in the 33rd National Junior Hockey Championship which concludes on Saturday.

In the absence of a proper seating arrangement, the journalists faced hardships while discharging their duties and were at the mercy of organisers. It is pertinent to mention that the press enclosure that was created on the eve of the second Champions Trophy in 1980 is in dilapidated condition with broken chairs and dust.

A separate seating arrangement for journalists was, however, made on the sidelines of the field on Thursday after the attention of organisers was drawn towards the apathy.

It is irony that millions of rupees are being spent on the event, journalists have to sit under scorching heat to watch semi-finals as selectors whose seating arrangements have been made close by were provided shed.

The less said the better. The whole championship has been marred by blunders and different versions of results of matches by organisers.

The biggest blunder was reported when custodian Saif Ali Khan, who is son of former Pakistan goalkeeper Shahid Ali Khan, was mentioned to have scored two goals for his team in quarter-final.

Surprisingly, no soul is moved and all this is going unnoticed in the presence of top hierarchy of the PHF. By the way where are we heading towards?

Published in Dawn, May 24th, 2014