LAHORE: Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) Asif Bajwa and Pakistan Federation Baseball (PFB) president Syed Fakhar Ali Shah have appealed to Prime Minister Imran Khan for a comprehensive relief package for the sports community hit by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The financial situation of the PHF was already poor but the virus has added to the woes as currently the PHF has no income while having to bear an expenditure of Rs2million per month,” Asif said. “If the same situation remains, or otherwise, the PHF will need huge financial assistance to go ahead. If the pandemic continues, the PHF will not be able to even meet its monthly expenditure. If the virus outbreak begins, the PHF will anyways start a number of activities and that will require funding.”

He said only the government could help the sports community to come out of the current crisis and was hopeful that the government had already realised the problems of the sportspersons.

To a question he said the financial position of the players was terrible and it was dwindling with each passing day as all the foreign leagues, which had been their biggest source of income, were being postponed.

“Around 100 Pakistani players have contracts with different European and Australian teams and they were expecting a good income through those but now they all are sitting at home, worrying about their future,” he said.

Asif said that the only financial resource of the PHF was rental income coming from Hockey Club of Pakistan. But under the current situation, no one was ready to pay the monthly rent as the government had allowed relaxation in payments due to the virus.

“Furthermore, since my appointment, I haven’t taken a single rupee as my salary due to the financial position of the PHF,” he said. “We were hoping to start a franchise league but the project has now been shelved due to the current uncertainty.”

Since coming into power, the government hasn’t issued any grant to the PHF as the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) has reservations over the use of the previous special grants issued to the federation.

Fakhar, meanwhile, emphasised on the plight of the baseball players, coaches, trainers and ground staff who had been hit hard by the closure of activities.

“The Prime Minister should come forward with a very generous hand for the sports community, both in case of further continuation of the virus and even if its spread ends,” he said. “Several Asian level tournaments have been postponed due to the virus. If the ban on sporting activities is lifted, events will come thick and fast and we would need funding to ensure Pakistan’s participation.”

Fakhar said Pakistan are ranked the fifth best team in Asia and ‘had to ensure its participation in the continental activities’. “Getting there wasn’t easy and if we wouldn’t have sufficient funding to participate in tournaments, our ranking would fall.”

He concluded saying it was “high time for the entire sports community to sit together with the government to find out the solutions as the upcoming situation would be alarming”.

Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2020