Islamabad
Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) wants to nationalise the sport of hockey, suggesting a comprehensive plan to expand the national game from province to province.
PHF secretary Asif Bajwa said they want to nationalise hockey so that it could be played in each province of the country. ‘Each province should host at least two tournaments,’ a private news channel quoted him as saying.
Bajwa said the PHF selection committee has been tasked to hunt for new talent. ‘We want to add seven to eight national level tournaments in domestic hockey that will be spread to different venues of the country so that hockey can be seen being played everywhere, from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to Sindh and Balochistan to Punjab,’ he said.
He said Pakistan would also have a ‘Whites’ team, along with a national squad and a junior team to prepare for the next Junior World Cup’. ‘We are also launching our programme for 2025 Junior World Cup,’ he said and added, ‘We have set our eyes on the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris’. Bajwa said, ‘We have set Olympics 2024 as our target and have been planning to be at medals podium in the Olympics in 2024’.
The PHF boss, however, noted that he had still not given up hopes for the team’s qualification for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.—APP
