LAHORE: The Pakistan hockey squad on Saturday left for Islamabad from where it will fly out to the UK on Sunday to participate in the Commonwealth Games being held in Birmingham from July 28 to Aug 8.

The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF), which is currently going through a crunch time due to its conflict with the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) over the elections of the federation, held a reception in the honour of the Umar Bhutta-led national squad, comprising 18 players, on Friday night.

The function was attended by former Olympians Akhtar Rasool, Manzoor Junior, Khalid Hammed, Rana Mujahid, team’s head coach Siegfried Aikman, manager Sameer Hussain, PHF president retired Brig Khalid Sajjad Khokhar, secretary Asif Bajwa and Tahir Zaman.

Earlier this month., the PSB had de-notified Khokhar as PHF president for failing to hold elections due on May 14 this year. However, Khokhar is part of a four-member PHF ad-hoc committee announced by the PSB which has to hold the elections within the next month.

Published in Dawn, July 24th, 2022