Pakistan

Tariq Kirmani, chairman of Pakistan State Oil (PSO), will replace Muhammad Aziz Khan as the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) president, announced PHF secretary general Musarrat Ullah Khan after the annual general council and congress meetings at a local hotel here on Tuesday.

Briefing reporters, he said an estimated budget of Rs 54.7 million had been made for hockey activities throughout the country. “The meeting also approved next year’s calendar for senior and junior events. A change has also been made in the format of the national hockey championship which will be made public after due procedure.”

About the management changes in the senior and junior hockey teams, he said: “Samiullah Khan will be the manager of the senior team while Asif Bajwa and Rana Mujahid will act as coach and assistant coach respectively. A physical trainer and a psychologist are also being hired for which we are negotiating with renowned names in these fields.”

He said Muhammad Shafique would be the manager of the junior team while Tahir Zaman and Khawaja Junaid would be coach and assistant coach. He said the tenure of the senior management is till the World Cup 2006 and ruled out the possibility of hiring a foreign coach. He said former Olympian Akhtar Rasool will continue to head the national selection committee while Shahnaz Sheikh has been inducted as a member in place of Rao Salim Nazim. A new addition in the committee is former Olympian Islahuddin.

“Special emphasis has been laid on the promotion of activities in districts. An amount of Rs 100,000 and 10 kit bags will be awarded to a district that will show best performance.” He said PHF was considering to raise the daily allowance of players and team management and a decision in this regard would be taken soon.

He said though Pakistan had not won an international event in the last four and a half years, there was a new generation of players who would hopefully take Pakistan hockey to new heights. In reply to a question, he said: “During this period, we involved all hockey-related people and tried to put in the best combination in the management and the team. But it is our bad luck that we did not win an international event,” he concluded.

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