LAHORE: The recent election of India’s Dr Narinder Batra as the president of the International Hockey Federation (FIH) coupled with Pakistan government’s continuous delay in issuing the No Objection Certificate to the national team for its participation in next month’s Junior World Cup in Lucknow has posed serious challenges to the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF).

Uncertainty prevails in the PHF over the situation emerging in view of the recent developments with the mega event set to commence in Lucknow from Dec 8.

With Dr Batra holding top post in the FIH after the recent polls in Dubai, the PHF has expressed reservations about India calling the shots in the world hockey and taking undue control to sideline Pakistan.

The PHF officials fear, and not without reason, that if the government of Pakistan does not allow the national junior team to visit India for the World Cup, the FIH will be inclined to take a harsh decision with regards to Pakistan hockey.

“It is true that the PHF finds itself on a weak wicket as India has gained full control over the game just because it is spending billions of rupees to finance international hockey,” a key officials of the PHF told Dawn on condition of anonymity. “Though the PHF delegation was in Dubai to participate in the FIH elections, no country bothered to seek Pakistan’s support as they were too eager to please the Indian lobby.”

The current strained political relations between India and Pakistan have also raised serious questions over Pakistan’s participation in the global contest. Though the PHF’s training camp for juniors at Johar Stadium is in full swing, uncertainty remains over the team’s participation in the Lucknow competition since the PHF has still not received the NOC from the federal government.

“The situation is not good for Pakistan at international level and now the only way ahead for us is to restore some pride in international hockey is and prepare strong teams at all levels. But for that purpose, the PHF will be needing massive amount of funds and comprehensive planning,” said the hockey official.

Meanwhile, head coach of Pakistan junior team Olympian Tahir Zaman said he was keenly looking forward to visiting India to avenge the recent defeats against the arch-rivals.

“Sports is a medium for promoting peace and harmony among the people of different countries and the World Cup is also an opportunity to promote peace and harmony,” he emphasised.

“If Pakistan win the World Cup on Indian soil, it would be the best way to silence those who doubt the team’s potential and don’t want the two top sides to play each other.”

He said the boys were upbeat about participation in the mega event and are preparing themselves hard for it. “We want to concentrate on sports and the situation at LoC is not for us to deal with,” said Tahir.

Published in Dawn, November 16th, 2016