Islamabad
The National Assembly Standing Committee on Inter Provincial Coordination (IPC) on Friday summoned the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Ehsan Mani and Managing Director Wasim Khan in its next meeting.
The committee which met under the chair of Agha Hassan Baloch expressed displeasure over the non-presence of Ehsan Mani and Wasim Khan in the meeting as a comprehensive briefing on PCB and Pakistan cricket team’s performance in the 2019 Cricket World Cup, was on the cards.
The committee member Iqbal Muhammad Ali walked-out in protest over the absence of top PCB officials. “When committee members from Quetta and Karachi can ensure their presence in the meeting, then why cannot PCB Chairman and Managing Director,” he said. However PCB Chief Operating Officer Subhan Ahmed was present in the meeting.
Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) Secretary Asif Bajwa also briefed the committee on the game’s affairs. He said Pakistan was not getting the pool of players it used to have in the past. “The absence of hockey competitions from schools and colleges was a major reason for the downfall of the game,” he said.
He said the government must make hockey competitions mandatory in schools and colleges to revive the national game. “In the first phase, PHF would provide coaches, hockey sticks and balls to schools and colleges for holding competitions,” he said and added PHF would also establish 18 to 20 academies in the country.
The Chairman asked Bajwa to visit provinces including Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh and Punjab along with committee members to revive the game. He also asked him to present the report of the outcomes to the committee.
The Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) Director General Arif Ibrahim also informed the committee that the training camps in preparations for the South Asian Games would be held after the National Games.—APP
