The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) has to pull out its team from the Junior World Cup which is being held in Lucknow, India, from Dec 8 to 18 after the deadline for confirmation expired on Nov 28.

The International Hockey Federation (FIH) gave no honour to the PHF’s request that it was ready to participate in the mega event but India was not issuing visas to the Pakistan squad.

The FIH turned a deaf ear to the PHF request and invited stand-by Malaysia to replace Pakistan after the expiry of the deadline.

Instead of helping the PHF in getting Indian visa well on time, the FIH has been threatening it either to quit the event or send the confirmation before the given deadline.

It seems the FIH is fully playing in the hands of the Indian lobby which is currently dominating the game’s governing body.

Hockey India president Narinder Batra had been elected president of the FIH last month in Dubai.

Since the Hockey India has become a major sponsor of the FIH, it is dominating it just like the BCCI is ruling the International Cricket Council (ICC).

The training camp of the Pakistan junior team was continuing at Johar Stadium in Lahore. The news of Pakistan’s ouster was shocking for the players who had been training for the big event for the last one year.

The first Pakistan Open Tennis tournament ended in Lahore last week on a disappointing note as only a few tough matches were witnessed despite being the best available talent of the country.

However, upsets were seen in both finals of men and women singles. Both top seeds Aqeel Khan and Sarah Mansoor lost the finals to Yasir Khan and Ushna Suhail, respectively.

Though belatedly, the PTV Sports took a good decision of telecasting the finals live.

After an eight-year rule, the Punjab Squash Association (PSA) president Malik Amjad Ali Noon did not contest the elections held last week in Lahore. Dr Nadeem Mukhtar has replaced Mr Noon. The newly-elected body paid rich tribute to Mr Noon.

During the eight-year tenure of Mr Noon, the Punjab Squash Association won the annual trophy of the Pakistan Squash Federation for holding maximum events in the province.

Last week, the Lahore’s Dar Hockey Academy team returned from Malaysia after winning the Inter-Club Tournament in Ipoh.

Academy head coach Olympian Danish Kaleem said that boys learnt a lot from this tournament.

Published in Dawn, December 4th, 2016