A training camp for women national hockey team is in progress in Lahore for Asian Challenge Cup being held in Brunei from Oct 22 to 29.

The Pakistani women hockey team got this opportunity after a gap of almost one year. As soon as the team was announced by the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) after two-day trials and training camp started at the National Hockey Stadium, a rumour shocked everyone involved. The news that the tournament had been cancelled because many countries pulled out their teams circulated around. The players got disappointed and they started packing their luggage to go back to their homes. The rumour was so strong that even the team management, headed by former Olympian Saeed Khan, believed in it and got concerned.

The rumour-mongers said that only Pakistan and Hong Kong along with the host country Brunei were left in the tournament as Uzbekistan, China, Myanmar and Sri Lanka had pulled out their teams. However, the PHF got confirmation about the tournament and announced that the team would go as per plan as all the foreign teams were participating in the contest.

As it transpired the politics in women hockey was the main cause behind the rumour. Like the women cricket, the politics in women hockey is also at the peak. However, a timely action of the PHF avoided a scare and now the camp is in full swing at the National Hockey Stadium. The team will leave for Brunei on Oct 20. Pakistan has little chance to win any respectful place in this tournament but the players will get some international exposure.

The Sports Board Punjab (SBP) has vowed to promote and sponsor players to become Olympians, enabling them to win laurels for the country. For the last one decade, the board was moving in the wrong direction without having any clear vision. Holding festivals and discouraging international players had become its trademark. For the last one decade, it has almost ignored holding Under-16 competitions for girls and Under-14 contests for boys though its prime duty was to promote the talent at the grassroots. The board’s new director general, Aamir Jan, has admitted in his first media talk the importance of the players and vowed to take every step to produce the Olympians.

Aamir had also pledged that champions of all the sports at Punjab level would be honoured and the sports board would help them become Olympians by providing them the best coaching and training facilities. The new DG has also expressed resolve that his first priority will be not only to complete the under-construction sports infrastructure but also to make them operational for the players.

Punjab, which provides 80 to 90pc players to the national team in almost every sport, is lacking sufficient sports infrastructure. The sports facilities which are available in the province are also under the full control of the bureaucracy, which has no clear standard operating procedure (SOP) to ensure a smooth system in allocating the grounds and sports complexes for any sports organisers on merit.

Instead of following a system in allocating the sports facilities, personal likes and dislikes of the administrators of these sports infrastructure have more sway. The sports board also needs to immediately announce a comprehensive policy on the use of the Sports Endowment Fund, which the provincial government announced a couple of years back. But still not a single player could get benefit of it, which is an alarming situation.

In a surprise move, Lahore Regional Cricket Association (LRCA) president Khwaja Nadeem has withdrawn his nomination papers from the election for the same post. The elections are being held in Lahore on Oct 26 under the supervision of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). In place of Nadeem, his covering candidate Naushad will now contest the election against Shahraiz Abdullah Rokhari.

Both the groups have the claim for their victory. The main role in the elections is to be played by three voters of the North Zone, one of the three affiliated zones of the LRCA. While Naushed has the full support of three votes of the West Zone, Shahraiz has the support of three voters of East Zone, because they are heading those zones, respectively. But the North Zone in which all the clubs working in the old city area of Lahore, like Shahdara, Bhatti Gate, Iqbal Parks have to play a vital role in the elections.

Published in Dawn, October 15th, 2017