Lahore - Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) Shahbaz Ahmad Senior has asked the government to directly pay to the players and handle expenditures incurred on their lodging boarding instead of giving funds to the federation.

He said that by doing so, nobody would point finger on the PHF regarding misappropriation of the funds and the government would know how much it is needed to spend on the game.

Talking in Waqt News program “Game Beat”, the PHF secretary alleged that those, who have played hockey, are defaming the same game, which gave them name. The same people also levelled accusations of misuse of funds when Khawaja Junaid was the head coach and now again, they were leveling the same allegations through baseless propaganda.

Shahbaz said that they were spending money cautiously and only where it is needed. He said he never made tall claims and when he took over the charge, he had said that Pakistan lacked far behind in hockey’s world.

“We cannot compete with the best teams of the world without proper planning and organised system. The national game has given me respect and honour but some people don’t like my face.”

The PHF official said that when he was a player, these people didn’t get chance to criticize him as he remained always on top of his game but now such jealous people have got opportunity to sling mud at me, when Pakistan team didn’t perform.

He said the PHF has been trying for years now to get enough funds so that the players can play the game with a peace of mind.

He said when the money matters would be on a player’s mind, he couldn’t perform up to his potential and he deserves to get his due right in time to exhibit his prowess.

He hoped that Pakistan would fare well in the World Cup and said the federation’s target is improve the ranking of the team, which is currently sitting on the 13th place in world.