At a time when the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) should have enthusiastically prepared the team for the World Cup 2018, it is unable to manage the training camp due to financial straits.

The camp has been set up at the National Hockey Stadium after the PHF made changes to the team management just three weeks before the start of the mega event in India from Nov 28. It has appointed Olympians Tauqir Dar as head coach and Danish Kaleem as assistant coach.

The World Cup is the most coveted of events and the teams invest generously to compete at the international level but unfortunately the PHF is struggling to seek funds from the federal government to clear the dues of the Pakistan team that won gold in the Asian Champions Trophy held last month in Oman. Worse still, the PHF is short of funds to properly manage the training camp and make payments for the accommodation of the national team in India for the prestigious event.

Pakistan is taking part in the World Cup after eight years; it could not qualify for its 2014 edition in the Netherlands. It also failed to qualify for the Olympics Games 2016 held in Brazil.

In his first media talk after assuming responsibility, Tauqir Dar said: “This is a very experienced team and most players have played more than 300 international matches. All they need is motivation, not coaching.” Unfortunately, he said, the standard of the food for players in the camp is not of high quality due to financial problems.

Among other measures Mr Dar has taken is extending an invitation to singers Ali Zafar, Waris Baig and Malkoo to the camp and they mingled with the players to raise their morale. They also expressed their concern over the poor treatment being meted out to the national players. The players have also been invited by businessmen to dinner parties.

Mr Dar says all these steps are necessary as the players need respect and high morale before landing in India for the event.

The Model Town Society (MTS) bulldozed the boundary wall of its R-Block cricket ground which was being used by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) under a contract. Former chief minister Shahbaz Sharif handed over the keys of the ground to PCB’s ad hoc chairman Najam Sethi in 2014 to maintain it especially for women cricket. A grand ceremony was held at Gaddafi Stadium and the PCB spent around Rs30 million to turn the ground into a first-class facility for women cricket. A boundary wall was built to ensure safety of the women cricketers.

The new government did not extend the contract that ended a few months ago. One is surprised over the decision of the MTS to bulldoze the boundary wall as it could also use it for some other women activities.

The PCB has not taken any step to shift the equipment to any other place.

The four-year old project of installing floodlights at the Lahore City Cricket Association (LCCA) ground has been stopped halfway due to unavailability of the electricity generation system. The lights are being installed by the Sports Board Punjab (SBP) after the project was approved way back in 2014.

It is learnt that the entire funds to the tune of Rs63 million are in the accounts of the SBP for the last one year. An official says there is no shortage of funds and the SBP is even willing to build a new pavilion at the LCCA ground from its own resources but it is surprising why the actual project is being delayed.

Published in Dawn, November 11th, 2018