KARACHI: The Sindh Hockey Association (SHA) has dropped a bombshell by excluding two districts of Karachi — West and Korangi — from the list of the contenders for the Inter-club hockey championship being held later this month.

“The SHA had named only four districts of Karachi — South, East, Central and Malir — while announcing the schedule of the event that will also serve as scrutiny for 2018-2022,” SHA secretary Mohammad Ramzan Jamali said in a communication SHA/ IC/SC/2018 dated April 3, 2018, a copy of which is available with Dawn.

According to the letter, the hockey championship for the scrutiny of district East and Central will be held on April 21 at 10:00am at the KHA ground and Iftikhar Syed ground, respectively.

Similarly, the inter-club hockey championship for the scrutiny of district Malir and South will also take place on the same date at 10:00am at the Islahuddin Academy and Abdul Sattar Edhi Hockey Stadium, respectively.

The scrutiny of clubs in Sindh is being carried out on the directives of the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF).

The scrutiny of Sukkur and Larkana clubs took place on Tuesday while the scrutiny for Benazirabad, Hyde­rabad and Mirpurkhas districts is slated for April 14.

The KHA had expressed shock of glaring omission of two genuine districts of the metropolis and drew the attention of the PHF hierarchy in this regard.

“District West, which is one of the oldest districts of the city, had the honour of producing a galaxy of Olympians and internationals of the game in the past,” KHA secretary Syed Haider Hussain, said in a rejoinder letter to the SHA official, a copy of which was sent to the PHF president and secretary also.

He stated that it is on record that the clubs of six districts took part in the five-a-side inter-district hockey championship and the DG Rangers Sindh Inter-district hockey league held in the city sometime back.

He demanded of the SHA official to issue a revised schedule of the scrutiny by including the district West and Korangi.

Meanwhile, secretary of the Regional Hockey Association Shaheed Benazirabad Syed Hassan Askari has also lodged a complaint with the PHF pertaining to the violation of instructions by SHA secretary.

“The SHA secretary had stated that observers will be appointed by him while the PHF had said that it will appoint the eyewitnesses,” he said in a letter to the PHF secretary.

He urged upon the PHF to issue necessary instructions to the SHA to follow their directives in letter and spirit.

The SHA secretary could not be reached for comments.

Published in Dawn, April 11th, 2018