ISLAMABAD-Brig (R) Khalid Sajjad Khokhar, Olympian Shahbaz Senior and Ikhlaq Usmani were elected unopposed president, secretary and treasurer of Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) in the elections conducted here at a local hotel on Tuesday.
Khawar Anwar Khawaja (Punjab), M Saeed Khan (KP), Chaudhry Ismail Gujjar (Balochistan) and Syed Ghulam Mustafa Shah (Sind) were also elected unopposed as vice presidents for the term of four years. 93 voters out of 113 were present to use the right of vote but the entire Khokhar panel was elected unopposed as none of the candidates file nomination papers against them. The POA and Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) representatives and other members were also present on the occasion.
Addressing the press conference after winning the election, Khokhar, along with Shahbaz and Ikhlaq, accepted that they didn’t manage to give extraordinary results in their first tenure of 30 months, but the signs are encouraging and national hockey team has started giving improved performances, just like all witnessed in the Commonwealth Games, where the green shirts remained undefeated.
“The Rs5 million announced by Prime Minister during the award ceremony a few days back are not for the federation but purely for the players. They are showing resilience and the federation will take every possible step to provide them the best facilities, jobs and international exposure,” he added.
When a question was raised against elections process in Rawalpindi and Islamabad, Khokhar rejected the claim and said the process was neat and clean. “The federation withheld Rawalpindi District elections results as a lot of complaints were registered, while Islamabad elections were held according to rules and regulations and if someone had any doubts, it is his or her way of thinking.
When pointed out that on petition of former Olympian Khawaja Junaid, the Lahore High Court (LHC) has barred the federation from conducting the elections, the PHF president asked them to first read the orders and then raise questions. “We respect court orders in true letter and spirit, and there was no such order, which barred the federation from conducting the elections.”
When asked about Pakistan Hockey League and when the proposed league will finally start, Khokhar said: “The government has given us NOC while the arrangements have almost been completed, but due to hectic international calendar, the league could not take place this year. We are working on that and soon we will start the league, which will be organised every year.”
About late Olympian and goalkeeper Mansoor Ahmed, the PHF chief said: “We not only offered all-out support to Mansoor, but also did whatever we could have done for him. I don’t want to make it a political issue and don’t want point-scoring. The federation always stands by former and present players, officials and tries to help them out in the best possible fashion. Despite funds issues, we never ever cried and always provided more than hefty funds.”
About future targets of PHF, Khokhar said: “We managed to meet a few targets and also failed in a few. Now we have appointed foreign coach, who, with almost same players, is trying to produce better results. We have now three set of players in shape of seniors, juniors and youth. We have given free hand to coach and also appointed a foreign trainer to help our players.
“We are now focusing on Asian Games and hoping to win gold medal, which will help in boosting players’ confidence and also help them directly qualify for the next Olympics.
After Asian Games, our main target will be World Cup and as far as Champions Trophy is concerned, we are given wildcard as we introduced the Champions Trophy, which is elite tournament and top sides of world hockey will be in action, so it will be great learning experience for the players,” he added.
“I welcome all the past greats to come and join hands to work for the noble cause of taking Pakistan hockey to new heights, which it is difficult task but not impossible. Shahbaz has been working tirelessly and my team is doing wonderful job.
There might be some shortcomings and minor mistakes, and we trying to overcome and give out better results,” Khokhar concluded. Later, the PHF officials offered Fateha for the departed soul of Mansoor Ahmed and father of Kamran Ashraf.