PESHAWAR: Pakistan Hockey Federation’s secretary and former Olympian Shahbaz Ahmad Senior on Monday said that sincere efforts are being made for the promotion of hockey in the country and all stakeholders have been taken on board in order to broaden up the pool of selection.

Talking to media, Shahbaz said that he and his colleagues in the PHF are working with full commitment, dedication and sincerity for the revival of the game and want people related to hockey in Pakistan to support them rather than indulging in any politics.

He said for the promotion of hockey and widening up the pool of selection, special focus has been put on club hockey to involve maximum number of players at the grassroots level.

Shahbaz said PHF is working under a constitution rather than imposing individual decisions and all the stakeholders including the players and club owners from Sindh to Chitral are part of the process. “No individual’s whim and fancy is being entertained but a collective effort is being made to promote the game,” he said.

He said the major steps to boost the national game are to revive the club hockey besides efforts are under way to laying around 100 mini-synthetic turfs at schools, colleges and district levels across the country. “Clubs used to be the backbone of Pakistan hockey in the past and they could still could play a role of a nursery in producing quality players,” he said. “That’s why we have introduced the Inter-Club competitions wand they would be a permanent fixture of the PHF’s annual calendar.”

He said PHF had devised a comprehensive plan under Vision 2020 to revive hockey in the country and are confident about achieving its goals.Shahbaz also appreciated President PHF Brig (Retd) Sajjad Khokhar and members of PHF Congress for extending support to him for the implementation of the Vision-2020 plan.

He emphasised that international exposure of players is vital for polishing their overall skills but due to lack of funds PHF was not able to send its team on foreign tours. “Now the situation is much improved as far as the international exposure to the junior and senior teams are concerned and plans are afoot to bring the game back on the right track by competing in several international events.”

“President PHF has had many meetings in this connection with the members of AHF and FIH and all of them want to support Pakistan Hockey,” Shahbaz concluded.

Published in Dawn December 6th, 2016