Pak Standing Committee hearing on hockey on Friday

ISLAMABAD: Former Olympians and Pakistan Hockey Federation’s officials, who are on a warpath against each other, will come face to face on Friday at the hearing of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Sports.

The Chairman of the committee, Iqbal Muhammad Ali said the purpose of the hearing was two-pronged.

“We not only want to find out the causes for the national team’s disappointing performance in the Asian Games, but also try to remove differences between our former Olympian greats and the Federation and its officials,” Iqbal said.

The lawmaker said that the Parliamentary committee was obviously concerned that the national team had this year twice failed to do well in India in the World Cup and then in the Commonwealth Games.

“We want to find out from the Federation President and Secretary and the team officials what has gone wrong and why is the team continuing to disappoint us in every major tournaments,” he said.

Iqbal said there appeared to be no excuse for the poor performances since the PHF was also getting generous grants and funding from the government and have even hired a foreign coach also.

“We are also unhappy over this daily exchange of statements between the PHF officials and some of our leading former Olympians, who deserve lot more respect,” he said.

Iqbal said that the committee would try to remove the grievances of both parties and get them to work together for the betterment of Pakistan hockey.

While former Olympians like Shahnaz Sheikh, Samiullah, Islahuddin, Mansoor Ahmed, Akharul Islam, Hasan Sardar, Ayaz Mehmood, Qamar Zia accuse the PHF of being incompetent and not having a proper plan for the team, Federation has criticised former greats for just giving statements and never bothering to come on the field and contribute something positive to the game in Pakistan.