Elections of the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) at the provincial level have been completed last week while polls at the national level will be held in Islamabad on Monday (today) to elect its president, secretary, treasurer and other office bearers.

Election results have brought no change of faces as far as men’s side is concerned both at the Lahore and Punjab level, but in women’s side the Shahida Khanum group has retained its position both at the city and at the provincial level.

In men’s side, it was expected that Olympian Akhtar Rasool’s group would win the elections, but another Olympian Khawaja Junaid entered the field with his group. However, a day before the elections, both groups made seat adjustment on certain positions.

The Akhtar group had to surrender the presidentship of Lahore to Babar Ansari, the brother of PHF election commissioner Arshad Ansari. The Akhtar group, however, succeeded in saving the secretaryship for Ali Akhtar, son of Akhtar Rasool. Arshad Chaudhry was elected as PHA’s Lahore representative.

After a couple of days, the elections of the PHA were also held. Pervaiz Bhandara from Pakpattan was elected as president and Ajmal Khan from Lahore as secretary.

Three representatives each from all 36 districts of Punjab were in Lahore to participate in elections, but the new body was elected unopposed. Arshad Chaudhary was elected as senior vice-president of the PHA while another Olympian Shahbaz Junior was elected as treasurer.

It is after a very long time that elections from the district to the national level are being held. In the past, the prime minister of Pakistan, being the patron of the PHF, has been nominating a man to hold the office of president of the federation after getting a vote of confidence from general body members.

Though the exercise of holding the elections is a good tradition, a ‘mashroom’ of hockey clubs was seen when their scrutiny was conducted before elections in Lahore. At least 60 women clubs appeared for their scrutiny. Nobody could have believed that such a large number of women clubs are functioning in Lahore if one considers the availability of grounds in the city.

More surprisingly, the number of men clubs, which are only 15 in Lahore, has also been increased to around 30. In fact, the sport of hockey has seen a sharp decline in the country in the last two decades, and it seems most of clubs exist only on paper.

Now the hockey family will be in Islamabad on Monday (tomorrow) to elect the PHF president for the next four-year term. So far, Akhtar Rasool is the frontrunner for the coveted post of the PHF president.

It is learnt that Akhtar Rasool and Rana Muhjahid have been elected unopposed as president and secretary of the PHF.

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The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) will hold the elections of the Lahore City Cricket Association (LCCA) next week. In the first phase, the elections of the three affiliated zones of the LCCA namely the West, the East and the North, will be held on Nov 29.

In the second phase, the elected bodies of three zones will elect the office-bearers of the LCCA the date of which is yet to be announced.

At least 131 cricket clubs are affiliated with the three zones. Among them, the West zone is the biggest with 48 clubs. The East zone has 46 clubs and the North zone is consisted of 37 clubs.

Two groups are contesting the elections, one is lead by former LCCA president Khawaja Nadeem and the other by Izzat Saiyed, who was the head of the LCCA interim-set up, which was abolished by the PCB during the current week to pave the way for holding elections.

A close fight is expected between the two groups. In a surprise move, Khawaja Nadeem has again joined hands with his secretary Mian Javed Ali. Both Nadeem and Javed had developed differences after being elected as LCCA president and secretary, respectively, some four years back.

Nadeem had sacked Mian Javed as secretary through a no-confidence move. But now the two rivals of the past have joined hands in their effort to tackle Izzat Saiyed.

Former Test cricketer Aamir Sohail, who was a strong candidate when Zaka Ashraf was the PCB chairman, but the elections could not be held at that time, is no more in the field as its supporters are either with Izzat or Nadeem. Therefore, no cricketer will be in the field to contest LCCA elections.

The PCB has shifted the venue of elections from the Qadhafi Stadium to the LCCA’s own building.

In the East Zone, the Izzat group candidates are Shoaib Dar (for president seat) and Mobeen Ahmad (for secretary seat). Rai Zulifqar and Nawab Mansoor will contest them from the Nadeem group.

In the East Zone, Shahraiz Khan Rokhari, son of late Aamir Hayat Rokhari, who ruled the LCCA for decades, will be the candidate for the president seat from the Izzat group while Ayaz Khan will contest elections for the secretary seat. Kamal Shah and Muhammad Islam will contest for the president and secretary seat from Nadeem group.

In the North Zone, Ijaz Butt (not former PCB chairman) and Shahid Ghafoor are contesting for the president and secretary seats. Against them are Maqsood and Naseer Shahzad.