Pakistan Hockey Federation Patron Prime Minister Imran Khan has directed the management of the federation to change the structure of the national game to improve the quality of hockey.
The Prime Minister has said that the number of teams in the National Championship should be reduced and high standard centers should be constructed in all four provinces.
This was disclosed by Pakistan Hockey Federation Secretary Asif Bajwa while talking to Dawn where he met the Prime Minister along with Federation President Brigadier Retired Khalid Khokhar on Wednesday.
Interestingly, this is Imran Khan’s first meeting with the officials of Pakistan Hockey Federation despite more than two years of becoming the Prime Minister and despite being the Patron Chief considering the deteriorating situation of the national game with each passing day. It took two years for the Prime Minister to meet the hockey officials.
Asif Bajwa said that the Prime Minister has given some instructions for the improvement of the sport and the Prime Minister has promised the full support of the government to bring back the right direction and improve the quality of the sport in Pakistan.
He said that the Prime Minister asked the delegation to make a detailed presentation in the next meeting and inform about what changes will be made in the structure after the amendment of the constitution of the federation.
Asif Bajwa said that the Prime Minister was also keenly interested in reducing the number of domestic teams and said that the focus should be on improving the quality of the game instead of the number.
It is also worth mentioning here that on the instructions of the Prime Minister, the Pakistan Cricket Board also reduced the number of teams at the domestic level from 16 to 6, due to which many cricketers became unemployed and many players were forced to do very low-level jobs. were forced to, while due to the new domestic system, many departments had terminated their cricket teams.
Like cricket, hockey also has a large number of departmental teams and if the Pakistan Hockey Federation also reduces the number of teams on the pattern of the Pakistan Cricket Board, many players will face serious financial difficulties.
The Secretary of the Federation said that the delegation of the Pakistan Hockey Federation told the Prime Minister that the Pakistan Cricket Board receives adequate financial support from the International Cricket Council, so the Federation needs the full support of the government for the revival of hockey.
Asif Bajwa said that the Prime Minister urged the delegation to organize a national championship for players of different ages.
It should be noted that for the last three years, the Pakistan Hockey Federation has not received any financial support from the federal government and due to lack of funds, the Pakistan Hockey Team could not participate in the Pro League of the World Hockey Federation last year and they were banned by the world governing body of the game. A fine of 100,000 dollars was imposed by
Several reports were published in the media that the participation of the Pakistan Hockey Team in the Pro League is in doubt, but despite this, no action was taken by the government.
Moreover, recently the Pakistan Sports Board in a major blow removed the Pakistan Hockey Federation from the Executive Board and replaced it with Football, which currently does not even have an elected body.
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2024-08-31 00:58:21
