Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: A spokesperson for the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) said on Wednesday that despite limited resources, the national federation was working towards the betterment of the sport in the country. Pakistan narrowly averted an Asian Games boycott by its hockey players after the PHF gave assurances that overdue daily allowances would be paid in full before the multi-sports event begins in Indonesia later this month. The Pakistan men’s team are the most successful at the Asian Games with eight gold medals, but players had threatened to skip the upcoming edition after not being paid their allowances for the last six months. The PHF spokesperson, drawing a comparison with India which he said had an annual hockey budget of over Rs1 billion, lamented that the funds and grants Pakistan hockey receives werr not enough if the team were to excel in international events. Due to a lack of funds, the players faced problems in their daily allowances, he said.

On Monday, Pakistan hockey players threatened they would not participate in the upcoming Asian Games if their daily allowances were not paid. However, a day later captain Mohammad Rizwan Senior announced that PHF president Khalid Sajjad Khokar had assured him unpaid allowances would be cleared before the Asian Games. The Asian Games are scheduled to be held in Indonesian cities of Jakarta and Palembang from August 18 to September 2.

Published in Daily Times, August 2^nd 2018.