LAHORE: Tariq Hussain Bugti, the newly-appointed Pakistan Hoc­key Federation chief, has started the restoration work: The national selection committee headed by Kale­emullah and the national team’s coaching staff led by Shahnaz Sheikh is back.

It marks the end for the selection committee led by Asif Bajwa while Dutchman Roelant Oltmans, who was supervising the national team’s camp in Rawalpindi for the upcoming Olympic qualifiers, will leave without being at the helm for a single game in his second tenure as head coach.

It remains to be seen how retired Brig Khalid Sajjad Khokhar, who was replaced by Tariq on the orders of the Prime Minister last week, reacts to the decisions.

Khokhar has vowed he will fight his removal but former Olympian Samiullah told Dawn on Monday that he should accept the decision of the premier and let the new PHF management to work for the betterment of the national game.

“Pakistan Hockey Fed­eration President Mir Tariq Hussain Bugti has made significant decisions upon assuming office at the PHF headquarters,” the PHF said in a statement on Monday.

“The former national hockey selection committee, under the chairmanship of Olympian Kaleemullah, has been reinstated. National senior hockey team management, led by Head Coach Shahnaz Sheikh, has also been restored.

Instructions have been issued to PHF Executive Secretary Ali Abbas to take charge of his responsibilities, and Olympian Khalid Bashir has been appointed as the Director Administration.

“The members of the restored selection committee are Nasir Ali, Rahim Khan and Laek Lashari. Besides Shahnaz Sheikh, the previous senior team’s management which was also restored is Olympian Shakeel Abbasi, Olympian Dilawar Hussain, and international Amjad Ali [as coaches]. Physical trainer Mohammad Imran will fulfill his responsibilities, while the appointment of a video analyst will be decided later.

“Following the recommendations of the Pakistan Hockey Federation’s National Hockey Selection Committee, an announcement for potential players for the national senior hockey team’s preparation will be made on Tuesday.”

Dawn has learnt that Tariq has also dissolved the 103-member PHF Congress and steps to announce the election schedule from clubs to national level will be made public within a few days.

Sources said that after the appointment of a five-member management committee of the PHF, according to the Prime Minister’s instructions, the process of the elections from clubs to national level will also begin.

Earlier, the PHF president had planned to convene a Congress meeting but now there is a change in the policy as it will take time to elect a new Congress.

Samiullah, meanwhile, advised Khokhar that there was no point in resisting the appointment of Tariq.

“Keeping his [Khalid] performance during the last nine years [as PHF chief] in mind, there is no point for Khalid to fight as there has been a huge decline in the standard of the game during that time,” he said.

“I hope the new PHF’s management would take all the needful steps to put back the affairs of the federation

on a right track as a considerable time has already been wasted due to infighting among the different lobbies of the hockey circles.“

Published in Dawn, December 26th, 2023