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Karachi:The PHF president Brig (retd) Khalid Sajjad Khokhar addressed a press conference at Abdul Sattar Edhi Hockey Stadium in Karachi on Friday.
Before addressing the press conference Pakistan Hockey Federation President Brigadier (retd) Khalid Sajjad Khokar meets hockey Olympians and former International hockey players. The meeting was attended by olympian Hanif Khan, olympian Hassan Sardar, olympian Kaleemullah, olympian Kamran Ashraf, Kashif Jawad, olympian Danish Kaleem, Safdar Abbas, Haider Hussain, and Gulfraz Khan. President PHF invited all hockey Olympians & International hockey players to work together for the betterment of the National game.
Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) president Brig (retd) Khalid Sajjad Khokhar informed that at least 11 companies have contacted PHF and showed expression of interest regarding the sponsorship dealing with the national game hockey since the PHF has given the invitation to bid to the private sector for sponsoring the national game in different heads.
He said that PHF has also finalized the plan to establish a hockey excellence school in Lahore for the training of emerging and talented hockey players selected through a talent hunt scheme across the country along with coaches, umpires, and technical officials. Besides urged all four provincial governments through the ministry of IPC to establish hockey academies in all four provinces because the school and college hockey have collapsed in our country and the alternative plan is to establish the hockey academies in all four provinces to groom the national game at the grass-root level. High-performance physical trainer from Australia Mr. Danial Berry will be looking after the physical aspect of this Center along with all the coaches from senior and junior shall be part of this elite hockey Centers.
President said that Pakistan junior hockey team who will participate in the Junior Asia Cup 2020, in January, will go to Bangladesh some days before the final event so that the Green Shirts used to acclimatize the weather and play some practice matches with other local and foreign hockey teams.
He said that before leaving the country the Junior hockey team would also play a series with the national senior hockey team players, of which schedule would be finalized after the national hockey championship.
The PHF president said that PHF is interested in laying mini Austro turf in those cities and towns where the game of hockey regularly played so that our children start their game from synthetic turfs and used to play advanced hockey on a modern setup to combat the challenges of international hockey.
He added that the Sindh government has laid Astroturf in various cities of the province it is a great job and there is a need to utilize these facilities and organize regular hockey to get the benefits of these synthetic turfs.
He hoped that Pakistan senior and junior hockey teams training camp would be organized in those cities of Sindh provinces where these synthetic turfs have been laid and where hostel room’s facilities would also be available.
President informed that Hockey 5 world Cup would be organized in two years and Pakistan would have to prepare for this big event. The establishment of mini turfs would help to establish our hockey on a strong foundation and preparation of Hockey 5 international events.
President PHF said that due to the efforts of PHF present management the 30 years old issue of the lease of Abdul Sattar Edhi hockey stadium has been resolved and the Pakistan army has given the lease of hockey stadium for a longer period.
The PHF president further said that the 31st National Senior Women’s Hockey Championship will be organized in Peshawar in the month of December 2020.
President PHF said that the new hockey calendar for 2021 would be announced soon and also informed that the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) hockey championship would be organized in March 2021 at Army Hockey Stadium, Rawalpindi, and the Chief of Naval Staff (CONS) hockey championship would be held at Abdul Sattar Edhi Hockey Stadium, Karachi in the month of June 2021.
The PHF president did not optimistic that Pakistan senior and junior hockey teams would play bilateral hockey series or international hockey matches with foreign hockey teams in near future due to the second wave of COVID 19.
He further said that PHF has planned to given central contact to Pakistan hockey team players to resolve their financial issues.