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The PHF Executive Board, which met here under the chairmanship of Qasim Zia, has given the approval to the entire programme here on Saturday.
Later, while addressing a press conference, Qasim said that the federation had introduced a performance-based incentive programme to reward players on the pattern of a salary-based formula.
He said that the 'A' category players would get Rs50,000 per month, while 'B' and 'C' category players were entitled to receive Rs40,000 and Rs30,000 each.
Moreover, seven standbys would be placed in the 'D' category to get Rs15,000. But their names would be finalised after consulting the national selection committee.
Following are the details of the three categories
A Zeeshan Ashraf, Mohammad Imran, Sohail Abbas, Waseem Ahmad, Rehan Butt, Shakeel Abbasi and Salman Akbar.
B Nasir Ahmad, Akhtar Ali, Waqas Sharif, Mohammad Zubair and Sajjad Anwar.
C Abdul Haseem Khan, Abbas Haider, Mohammad Rashid, Mohammad Imran, Fareed Ahmad and Mohammad Shafqat.
'It is a historic moment for Pakistan hockey as such an incentive programme has not been introduced in the past and I hope that it will do away with the financial problems of the players while persuading them focus better on the game to get back the laurels for the country,' Qasim said.
He said a player could only change his category on the basis of his performance and discipline. He said a total amount of Rs10 million had been allocated for this programme.
Meanwhile, the PHF president also announced that former Olympian Shahbaz Junior had been replaced from the position of assistant coach of the national team.
He had been given a new assignment to coach the Pakistan Whites team for its participation in the South Asian Games to be held in Bangladesh in Jan-Feb next year.
Qasim Zia said Pakistan's senior team would not take part in the South Asian Games because it would be preparing itself for the World Cup to be held in New Delhi, India, in February next year. Ahmad Alam and Danish Kaleem will assist Shahbaz.
Moreover, the Executive Board also gave its approval for the federation's regional and district election programme.
In the first phase, the elections at the district and region level would be held from Nov 21 to Dec 14. Similarly, PHF elections would be held in the first week of Jan, he added.
The elections of the women wing would be conducted in the first week of Jan. Earlier, the elections at its district and provincial level used to be held from Dec 5 to 30.
Making a strict rule for the clubs, the PHF president said that the E/B also decided to cancel the voting rights of those clubs which would not have an under-16 team as they would be considered inactive.
In order to provide opportunities to the youngsters and eliminate ageing players from the national inter-club championship, the E/B also said that no player over the age of 30 will be allowed to take part in the national premier event in the future.
He said that Pakistans impressive performance in the recently-concluded World Cup qualifying rounds in France was a good sign and the PHF hoped that the national team would win the Champions League, too, in December.
