LAHORE: President Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) retired Brig Sajjad Khokhar on Tuesday said the visit of a World XI to play matches in Lahore and Karachi next month will be a boost for the game in the country as well as for the masses besides sending a strong message to the world about Pakistan being a safe place for sporting events.

Addressing a press conference that was organized to announce the details about the World XI tour to Pakistan from Jan 18-21, Khokhar expressed hope that the visit of World XI would help the federation to somewhat revive the hockey glamour of yesteryear.

When asked how retired or old players comprising the World XI will be of any help in preparing Pakistan for the forthcoming Commonwealth Games, being held in Gold Coast, Australia in April next year, Khokhar said: “It will surely help, but we remain focussed for the CW Games next year and are preparing hard for it.”

He further said that the National Hockey Championship is in progress in Sukkur which is part of preparations for the CW Games and the national selection committee is closely watching the performance of the boys.

However, when it was pointed out that the World XI series is being organized at such time when the Pakistan team has no head coach attached with it, the PHF president said though he would not like to disclose the name of the head coach at this moment, it is possible that he could be in Sukkur watching the matches.

Khokhar disclosed that Pakistan’s world record scorer and penalty-corner specialist Sohail Abbas will be playing for the World XI which will comprise well-known players from Holland, Germany, Belgium and Australia while one player each from South Korea and Malaysia would also be included in the World XI.

The PHF president admitted that the Pakistan hockey currently has a poor standing in the world rankings and it is a gigantic task to improve it considerably. “To meet this challenge, everyone should come forward to help the PHF as it is a national cause,” he said.

Asked if the PHF would earn any financial gain by hosting the World XI, Khokhar allowed the sponsors’ representative to answer the query who said the it would be good if the tour breaks even financially.

The PHF president added that handsome money will be paid to the foreign players in the World XI.

Published in Dawn, December 27th, 2017