KARACHI: The Karachi Hockey Association (KHA) received yet another boost when its 18 players were awarded contractual employments in the Karachi Development Authority (KDA) on Friday.

“The KDA has revived its hockey team after a long time aimed at playing its role for the promotion of national game”, an official of the KHA told Dawn.

According to the agreement, the U-20 players will receive Rs25,000 per month and their contract will be renewed after every three months.

It is pertinent to mention that almost as many women hockey players were also employed on a monthly emolument of Rs15,000 by an Islamabad-based firm earlier this year.

Shahzaib Khan, who has been named to lead the team, has also been selected in the Switzerland-bound five-a-side Pakistan hockey team that will embark to Lausanne on June 2.

Pakistan’s sports suffered a huge setback after hundreds of athletes were rendered jobless by many government organisations during Imran Khan’s regime as prime minister.

The 18 players are as follows: M Shahzaib Khan (captain), Abdul Wahab, Alyan Ahmed, Haris Naseer, Shahzaib Arbab, Ali Iqbal, Sheikh M Abdullah, Syed Hassan Mujtaba, Muneer Abbas, Mohammad Adnan, Mohsin Nawaz, Rizwan Khan, Zafeer Ahmed, Maaz Raza, Arsalan Haider, Abdul Rafey, Adnan Khan, Syed Mustafa Zaidi.

Published in Dawn, May 30th, 2022