LAHORE: A worthy vote of the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) to the traditional rival candidate of India, Dr Narinder Batra, helped him again win the election as president of the International Hockey Federation (FIH) on Saturday.

The election was held during the 47th FIH Congress held virtually.

Batra retained the seat for the second consecutive time as he gained 63 votes against 61 secured by Marc Coudron, president of the Belgium Hockey Federation. Had the PHF keeping in mind the traditional rivalry against India, put its weight behind Coudron, the vote count would have tied at 62-62 and it could have been considerably difficult for Batra to beat a strong rival like Coudron in the second voting.

“We went to support Batra following the decision of the Asian Hockey Federation to remain united,” PHF president retired Brig Khalid Sajjad Khokhar told Dawn here on Saturday soon after Batra was elected as FIH president.

Khokhar said overall 124 votes were cast as four members of the house abstained. “Batra served well hockey and hopefully he would continue to serve the FIH to further promote the game in the world.”

Khokhar lamented that due to Covid-19 hockey activities both at local and international level were abandoned, otherwise, the PHF intended to organise some international events besides Pro League.

Khokhar said due to the apathy of the federal government, Pakistan could not complete its commitment with the FIH of fielding the national team in the FIH Pro League due to which the country suffered a lot.

But now, he added, the PHF had again shown interest to participate in the Pro League, noting it will be a big source to play against world’s top teams throughout the year.

It may be mentioned here that Khokhar had made the commitment to participate in the FIH League, but due to lack of financial resources, he failed to comply with the commitment as Pakistan slumped from 13th to 17th position in FIH rankings and missed the opportunity to play against world’s top teams.

“I made efforts to raise funds and I also tried my best to convince the federal government to release funds for the Pro League but I failed as Pakistan suffered a big loss, and it also faced a cash penalty,” he lamented.

Khokhar was elected PHF president during the last government of Nawaz Sharif in 2014, setting a target to qualify for the 2020 Olympics as Pakistan could not qualify for the Olympics 2016.

Though the federal government issued funds to the PHF during the Nawaz Sharif government, the incumbent one did not extend a friendly hand despite the fact that Prime Minister Imran Khan is patron-in-chief of the PHF. During the last three years, the PHF could not get any big grant from the federal government. In fact, Khokhar made the commitment to the FIH during Nawaz’s government but when the Pro League started, the PTI-led government was functioning.

When asked whether there was a guarantee that the federal government would now make funds available for Pro League participation, Khokhar sounded hopeful.

“We had a very productive meeting with Prime Minister Imran Khan last year. However, due to Covid-19 another meeting could not be made possible. We hope the situation will not be the same,” he said.

“The PHF has tried its best to continue some hockey activities but Covid-19 pandemic is hindering this effort. Despite this the federation organised some training camps to keep the ball rolling at the national level while following the SOPs,” he remarked.

Meanwhile, it is learnt that the PHF has shown interest in bidding for three major events including the first Five-a-Side World Cup, Asia Cup, and an eight-nation invitational tournament.

Published in Dawn, May 23rd, 2021