KARACHI, Sept 14 Secretary, Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) Asif Bajwa has said that Pakistan has been internationally recognised for being the country which has done the most for the promotion of field hockey in the past year.

Speaking at a media conference called to discuss the PHF's working graph during the last one year at the Hockey Club of Pakistan (HCP) on Monday evening, the secretary praised his President Qasim Zia and other federation members for helping the PHF achieve this honour.

“Qasim Zia sahib has brought in so many funds for the federation that it has enabled us to go ahead with all of our planned programmes for the development of hockey here,” said Bajwa.

“Our current expenditure amounts to around Rs300 million in one year and I am sure that our president will be able to reach that target as well as he has also involved the private sector as is evident from the current Junior Hockey Super League,” he said.

“We started grooming young talent by setting up 12 academies in the beginning of 2009 and then we added another six. The boys at the 18 PHF academies are given free kits and sports gear too besides being given a regular stipend. And to test their progress, we'd be holding an inter-academy tournament, too, in December.

“Apart from that, we also intend holding regular inter-school tournaments with various incentives to keep our youngsters motivated. Development is our main focus as the future of hockey in this country depends on it and the efforts we have made and are making will bear fruit in the coming two to three years,” he announced.

Speaking about the performance of hockey selectors, Bajwa said “Our Chief Selector Hasan Sardar and his team have done a lot in unearthing talent and then giving the deserving boys the exposure they needed.

“They discovered five new boys in the last National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) Gold Cup and called them to camp, too. And now I am aware that he has already prepared a list of around 60 boys from the currently underway Junior Hockey Super League. So the country's future in hockey also depends on the PHF's holding national competitions, which we are doing at regular six- to eight-week intervals,” he pointed out.

About the federation's other positive contributions during the past year, the Secretary said “We have also revived so many things such as laying emphasis on research and development for the training and grooming of coaches here. So basically we have been and intend to cater to all that is good for Pakistan hockey,” he said.

He also reminded of the recent series win against England, Pakistan's improved ranking from number six to second in Asia and the junior team's climbing two steps up to reach the number five position from the previous number seven spot in Asia.

About the federation's future plans, Bajwa said that they will also groom a batch of under-23 boys, who will be given chances to show their worth in the South Asian Games in Dhaka.

“We also want to start in-door hockey in the country. The sport, although it has different rules, is important for hockey players as it helps improve the players' performances. We already have the structure and gymnasiums here and we would hopefully be getting a pitch, too, very soon,” he said while adding that it may cost to around Rs4 million.

Bajwa was also very optimistic about the FIH President Leandro Negre's visit to Pakistan in October. “It is an honour for the current PHF management that he wants to come here to discuss the future of hockey in Pakistan,” he said.

To a question about if the PHF would also take responsibility if the national team failed to qualify for next year's World Cup in India or if they reached there and failed miserably, Bajwa said “Of course. Only the PHF is responsible for all the good and bad that befalls the team. But,” he added “We have made the 2010 Asian Games our target from the time when Qasim Zia took over as the federation president.”

To a question about PHF's failure in holding the Asian Champions Trophy, Bajwa said “That too will be a topic of discussion with the FIH president when he gets here. But we just couldn't organise the event after finding out that we had to play in the World Cup qualifiers.

“The timing for holding the event was clashing with the qualifiers and it was impossible to appear in both events as we only have one national team,” he explained.

“Also although the tournament had been allocated to us, we were yet to receive confirmation from the visiting teams, which the security situation here could have hindered anyway,” he concluded.