LAHORE: President of the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) Olympian Akhtar Rasool has avoided announcing any specific target for his four-year tenure but says he will ensure that hard work and positive steps would be visible in his actions aimed at winning back laurels for the country.

Addressing a ‘Meet the Press’ programme, organised by the Lahore Press Club here on Monday, Akhtar said: “In modern age, hockey has become an unpredictable game and no team can claim to win every title. Even the underdogs can beat some of the favourites. However, as for Pakistan hockey, I will ensure that all positive steps are taken and hard work is put in by everyone to keep the national flag flying in world of hockey.”

Akhtar has been elected as the PHF president for a four-year term ending in 2017.

Learning a lesson from the last Qasim Zia regime which seemed overly keen in setting different targets after every failed campaign, Akhtar has preferred to avoid setting any definite goals for himself and his regime.

“Our focus will be to increase the number of domestic competitions at national, varsity, college and school levels for which a comprehensive programme is being designed,” said Akhtar.

He said at international level, the PHF had made contacts with Hockey India to revive the bilateral series after many years.

“We are in negotiation with Hockey India for the bilateral series and we have also offered them to come to Pakistan,” he said.

He said the PHF was also planning to host the Prime Minister Gold Cup, both at national and international level. He said the security situation in Pakistan was improving, moreover Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had also ensured fool-proof security to all foreign teams and hopefully a good number of international hockey activities would be held in Pakistan in the near future.

To a question about not enjoying the support of the senior Olympians who refused to accept the results of the recent PHF elections, Akhtar said he personally visited Islahuddin Siddiqi and Shahnaz Sheikh while also making contact with another senior Olympian Samiullah, offering them to join hands and work with him for the betterment of the game.

“I will give all of them complete authority to execute the plans they have in their mind for national hockey,” he said.

Akhtar disclosed that he along with his secretary Rana Mujahid had met Sports Secretary Ijaz Chaudhry at Islamabad recently and handed over to him the activity plan of the PHF for which it needs financial help from the federal government.

“We have requested the government to make PHF’s grant amounting to Rs500 million as part of the country’s annual budget,” he said.

He added that the PHF was in dire need of funds and hopefully the government of Punjab will help the PHF in this regard.

“The PHF requires an amount of Rs650 million every year and in case the federal government offers to provide Rs500 million, the federation will generate the remaining amount through sponsorships.

Akhtar revealed that the PHF had decided to re-introduce the national selection committee which was disbanded during the past when he was the team’s head coach.

“The step of restoring the selection committee is being taken to involve the hockey think-tank in the affairs of the national team and in the next ten days, the new selection committee and team management will be announced,” he said.

Asked why the PHF has not been contacting the genuine body of the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) led by retired Gen Arif Hasan which has the authority to enter the Pakistan team in the Commonwealth Games-2014 and the Asian Games-2014, Arif said since the government provides a huge grant to the PHF, it could not ignore its instructions to avoid any dealing with Arif’s POA.

However, he expressed hope that the POA dispute would soon be resolved and the Pakistan team would take part in both the events.

He said the academies set up by previous president Qasim Zia would continue but a strict system of check and balance over the affairs of the academies would be introduced.

To a question, he admitted the PHF had less influence over the FIH unlike the previous years.

He disclosed that the audit of accounts for the Qasim Zia tenure had been done by the Auditor General of Pakistan.