Karachi: To bring in professionalism in the set up, the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) has abolished all honorary posts and announced they would be having only paid selectors and coaches.

Announcing the decision on Monday, Asif Bajwa, Secretary of the PHF, said “From now on there will be no honorary positions in the hockey set-up as we will pay our coaches and selectors.”

Until now hockey in Pakistan has remained largely an amateur sport with players getting nominal allowances and the former players, who are appointed as coaches or selectors getting nominal fees and allowances unofficially.

“There was a need to introduce a sense of professionalism and pride in hock ey to make it more attractive for youngsters, who prefer to turn to more lucrative sports like cricket,” Bajwa, a former Olympian, said. The PHF Secretary also announced that the country would stage the Super League hockey tournament, which will involve foreign players, next year in Lahore and efforts were being made to raise USD 100,000 for prize money.

He also insisted that a foreign coach would be called in soon to head “research and development cell”, which will be created under the federation to push hockey forward in the country. The decision came after Pakistan team put up a disappointing show in the Beijing Olympics. PTI