LAHORE: While the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) has announced an increase in daily allowance for players on international duty, members of the senior squad have expressed their concern over a reported reduction in camp stipends.

On Tuesday, the PHF in a media statement said it had fixed the daily allowance for players and officials at $110 for upcoming international assignments, including the Junior Asia Cup in Japan, FIH Pro League fixtures in Belgium and England, the World Cup in the Netherlands and Belgium, and a World Cup qualifying event held earlier in Egypt.

“The PHF has made the best arrangements by ensuring sufficient funds and logistics support for the players,” the federation said. “For the first time, the daily allowance for players and officials on international tours has been increased to $110 each.”

However, the probables attending the ongoing senior camp at the National Hockey Stadium and participating in the two-day trials for the Pro League expressed their concern over reports that the camp daily allowance had been reduced from Rs3,000 to Rs1,000.

“When we get $110 then we will see it, but at the moment there are reports that [the] camp allowance has been reduced from Rs3,000 to Rs1,000,” a player said on condition of anonymity.

“Even labourers do not work for Rs1,000 a day,” another player remarked, adding that they had received daily allowances ranging from $20 to $200 in the past.

It may be recalled that during financial constraints faced earlier by the players, they frequently complained about what they termed the “step motherly treatment” meted out to them by both the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) and the PHF.

Currently, the PHF is being run by an ad-hoc regime with PSB’s acting director general Mohyuddin Ahmad Wani also holding administrative responsibilities in the federation, along with his role in the Inter-Provincial Coordination setup.

Meanwhile, the PHF, in its detailed statement, said that Pakistan hockey was showing “clear signs of revival and institutional recovery” following recent restructuring and reforms under the government’s guidance.

In this regard, it highlighted the revival of the National U-18 Championship in Islamabad after a long gap, with 15 teams participating from across the country.

The PHF, in the statement, further said that it had inducted several former star players, including Islahuddin Siddiqui, Samiullah Khan, Hasan Sardar, Manzoor-ul-Hasan Senior, Khawaja Junaid, Ayaz Mehmood, Qamar Ibrahim, Rehan Butt, Nasir Ali and Naeem Akhtar, in coaching and technical roles.

It further claimed that financial resources had been mobilised to support international participation in major events, including qualifiers in Egypt and upcoming assignments in Japan, England, Belgium and the Netherlands.

The PHF added that for the first time in its history, daily allowances for international tours had been enhanced to $110 to ensure improved welfare for players and officials.

It also announced the launch of a school hockey initiative in coordination with the education boards The statement said the programme would cover Gilgit-Baltistan, Azad Kashmir, Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The PHF, also claimed that it was expanding corporate partnerships, though it did not clarify the status of long-delayed federation elections, which had been among the key directives for the current ad-hoc set-up.

Meanwhile, two-day trials for next month’s FIH Pro Hockey League began at Lahore’s National Hockey Stadium.

The selection committee, headed by Samiullah, alongside Islahuddin and Hasan, observed the trials.

As many as 35 probables featured in two practice matches held on Tuesday.

Published in Dawn, May 20th, 2026