LAHORE: Responding to a move initiated by the National Assembly, the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) said it is grateful to the Inter-Provincial Coordination Ministry and the National Assembly for giving the nation the true picture about the grant given to it by the Federal Government in the last five years.

In response to a question by a legislator in the National Assembly, the IPC informed the assembly the total grant from 2011-13 given to the PHF was Rs430.62 million.

“The PHF also desires to add that in 2014-2015, the Punjab Government was kind enough to help the Federation with a sum of Rs100 million. The PHF hopes that the critics, who have been blaming that the federation had looted billions of rupees, must correct themselves and realise their mistake,” the PHF said in a press statement issued here on Tuesday.

“The PHF also regrets for not qualifying for the 2016 Olympics for different reasons. However, during the last two years Pakistan hockey team played three finals — Asian Games, Asian Champions Trophy, FIH Champions Trophy — which is a distinction indeed amid shortage of funds,” the statement added.

Critics of the PHF had been raising allegations recently that the Akhtar Rasool-led body had wasted billions of rupees but according to the information provided to the National Assembly, the federal government did not give any grant to the PHF in 2014 and 2015.

Had the Punjab government not released the Rs100million sum, the national team wouldn’t have been able to play three finals over the last year.

The paucity of funds saw the PHF unable to hold a proper camp for the team ahead of the Olympic qualifiers in Belgium in June-July where it finished eighth.

Published in Dawn, August 12th, 2015

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