LAHORE: Finally, national hockey team’s participation in the forthcoming World Cup is confirmed after the cash-strapped Pakistan Hockey Federation received a timely boost through a major sponsorship contract it signed with a private company.

PHF secretary Shahbaz Ahmed Senior said Pakistan Super League franchise Peshawar Zalmi owner Javed Afridi has signed a sponsorship deal with the PHF which will run till 2020.

The sponsorship deal will cover all international tours of senior and junior national teams as well as domestic hockey. “It is a big relief for us. Javed Afridi, who owns the Peshawar Zalmi franchise, has signed the sponsorship deal to uplift Pakistan hockey on behalf of his company,” Shahbaz said.

“Pakistan team is going to India for the World Cup,” Shahbaz confirmed. He, however, refused to disclose the sponsorship amount.

“Now we are just waiting for the visas of our players and officials [for the World Cup],” added the PHF secretary.

The PHF was in significant financial problems to clear the national team’s dues for its participation in the Asian Champions Trophy held in Oman last month. The team returned home after sharing the title with arch-rivals India as the final was abandoned due to heavy rain in Muscat.

After the Asian Champions Trophy, the situation became alarming as the PHF declared that Pakistan — the former four-time World Cup winners — could miss the Nov 28-Dec 16 World Cup being staged in Bhubaneswar, India due to the severe financial crisis the federation was passing through.

Despite a number of earnest appeals made by the PHF for a Rs80 million grant to meet the expenses of the Asian Champions Trophy and the World Cup, the federal government did not take any step in this regard.

Though neither the PHF nor the said company, which deals in electronic products — disclosed any details of the contract, Dawn has learnt that the payments will not be made to the PHF, instead the company itself will manage all arrangements, including travelling and accommodation, for the teams going abroad. Though it apparently shows lack of company’s trust in the PHF, at least the deal will ensure the national senior team’s participation in all the FIH-recognised events during the next two years.

During its four-year tenure, the incumbent PHF regime on many occasions have been criticised by several ex-Olympians for a string of embarrassingly poor performances displayed by national senior and junior teams. A number of ex-Olympians have also levelled serious allegations of corruption against federation officials.

WORLD CUP TRIALS START TODAY

Meanwhile, the national training camp for the World Cup is in progress here at the National Hockey Stadium, Ground No.2.

The two-day trials to select the final squad from 25 probables attending the camp starts on Tuesday. The venue of the trials may be changed to the main ground of the stadium to ensure the trials are held under floodlights as Pakistan will be playing all their three group matches of the mega event under floodlights.

Though the selectors have invited 26 probables to the training camp, Shafqat Rasool has not reported as he preferred to play league hockey in Canada. Therefore, 25 players will appear in the trials from which an 18-member squad will be selected after the two-day trials.

Published in Dawn, November 13th, 2018