ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Hockey Federation (phf) secretary Olympian Rana Mujahid has given an SOS call to Prime Minister and requested him to save the sinking ship of the federation and players.
Rana Mujahid while talking with The Nation on Friday said, they were almost at the brink for the last several months. “We had time and again requested Prime Minister to spare some time and meet with the federation and players and listen to our genuine complaints. But despite several requests there is still no positive outcome. I once again request PM to take some time off from his schedule and meet with federation and players. We want to discuss funds and players jobs issue. I am sure after the meeting took place, PM would issue directives to Finance Ministry to issue Rs 500 million funds, which is not much for the government but it would solve number of issues long pending with the federation. We have to clear dues of the management, award central contracts to players and embark on international tours.”
Rana said The PHF has Chinese invitation for six-match bilateral series against green shirts pending. “They want to host us next month. Then Sultan Azlan Shah would be held in April. We have to establish hockey camp for the mega event at Lahore or Karachi. We have to participate in the Hockey Super series in Perth, Australia involving Malaysia and one more team besides Pakistan and hosts. The series is scheduled to be held in May then we will play a series against South Korea in South Korea same month. Then we are to embark on very important European tour in which we would play matches against Germany, Belgium, Holland and other European powerhouses. Let me clear one thing. These events can play a very significant role in our preparations for the most important of all events the Olympic Qualifiers event. We can't even think about participation in Olympic qualifiers, winning the event would not more than a day dreaming. If we fail to play these must events, we would lose chance to participate in the Olympics. It would not more than a meager amount for the government, but it would mean a lot for the federation in helping us fulfilling our dreams and take Pakistan hockey back to same old glory days.”
Rana said in last few months the federation steps and team results were enough to prove that Pakistan hockey was back on the right track. “We have hired Shahnaz Sheikh and other past greats and they have given tremendous results under such tight financial conditions and results are more than we expected. But to continue that success, we need to fulfill our promises which had made with coaches and players. It is quite embracing for the federation not to pay team and management.”
He said the PHF had written letter to Inter Provincial Coordination secretary to arrange a meeting with PM and he had also met with IPC Minister Maan Riaz Hussain Pirzada in this regard but still nothing had come out and I also met with Director General Pakistan Sports Board Dr Akhtar Nawaz Ganjera and seek their help.