LAHORE: President of the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) Akhtar Rasool has made an emotional appeal to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to save the national game, which the ex-Olympian stresses, faces complete collapse due to financial problems.

“I don’t want any ministry or any other office. I have all the interest to again lift our national flag atop in international hockey, which has served the country with around 65 gold, silver and bronze medals in the past,” Akhtar, who captained Pakistan’s 1982 World Cup-winning team, said while talking to Dawn on Friday.

“My father [Olympian Ghulam Rasool] and I have contributed to Pakistan hockey. I have sincere love for it and I don’t want to see any further decline in this game, declared as our national sport by no one but the founder Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah,” the PHF president said.

“I appeal to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to take all necessary steps as soon as possible to save Pakistan hockey,” urged Akhtar.

After being elected as PHF president in 2013, Akhtar said, he launched successful efforts to bring all renowned Olympians at one platform, noting due to groupings among them the game had suffered a lot since 2008.

“Due to the PHF efforts, Shahnaz Sheikh, Islahuddin Siddiqi and many others joined the federation and we started joint efforts to regain our glory in international hockey,” he said.

“By the grace of God, Pakistan earned silver in the Champions Trophy 2014 and also came out runners-up in last year’s Asian Games. The team have started clicking and I think the days are not distant when we will again emerge as victorious,” Akhtar said.

“Currently, the PHF has a major task on hand — to qualify for the 2016 Rio Olympics [qualifiers to be held in Belgium in July this year]. But unfortunately the current poor financial condition is creating a major hurdle for us in preparing the team for this important assignment. Therefore, an immediate release of the funds to the PHF will help us start preparations,” Akhtar said.

It may be mentioned here that the PHF on Thursday wrapped up its national training camp in Islamabad, citing paucity of funds as one of the major reasons behind the closure.

The PHF last year, through the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) had sent a summary to the prime minister, also patron of the PHF, seeking funds to the tune of Rs500 million for the revival of hockey. The said funds still remain to be transferred to the federation.

Published in Dawn, April 4th, 2015

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