KARACHI: Sindh Sports Minister Dr Mohammad Ali Shah, while praising the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) for focusing on young talent, also raised a controversy over the utilization of funds sanctioned by the chief minister to promote hockey in the province.

Dr Shah was speaking at a reception organised by the Pakistan Sports Welfare Association (PSWA) in collaboration with the Sindh Sports Board (SSB) given in honour of the Singapore-bound U-18 Pakistan junior hockey team at the Karachi Gymkhana on Friday.

“PHF’s shifting its focus on grooming fresh talent must be commended for it is from the inter-school level and club hockey that players of the likes of Samiullah, Islahuddin and Hasan Sardar have emerged to make a name for their country,” he said.

“Of course hockey is no longer played on grass making it difficult for the schools here to build playing fields. But we are trying to remedy that by laying the Astroturf at as many grounds as possible. Work on this is already underway at Larkana, which we hope will be completed by next month while the base for artificial grass has also been laid at another ground in North Nazimabad,”  said the provincial sports minister, who along with President PHF Women’s Wing Tauqeer Fatima Bhutto, sneaked out of a Sindh Assembly session to be with the young hockey players.

“I am also glad to report that I have fulfilled my duty of passing on the Rs50,000 grant given to me by the Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah to the Sindh Hockey Association [SHA], although I don’t know what they have been doing with the money,” he announced raising a controversy over the matter.

Pointing a finger at PHF’s Director Administration Olympian Iftikhar Syed, who was also present on the occasion, he added: “I’ve been writing to him to know what has been happening with those funds but am yet to receive a proper response to my queries.”

However, Olympian Iftikhar Syed explained to Dawn that the funds Dr Shah was referring to were released by the chief minister on PHF President Qasim Zia’s request for annual grants worth Rs30 million for the promotion of hockey in Sindh.

“Only Rs5 million could be approved out of the 30 million requested. And the money came to us in the form of a cheque from the SSB made out to the PHF,” he said. “The PHF has been spending from the amount to pay salaries of the three managers and nine coaches working in the three PHF academies in Sindh, two of which are located in Karachi and one in Hyderabad,” he clarified.

Meanwhile, Secretary Sports and Youth Affairs Shoaib Siddiqui said that he was glad to be honouring the junior team even before their playing in the forthcoming 3rd U-18 Boys Asia Cup. “It shows how confident we are of their abilities to defend their title in the coming championship,” he said.

The reception was also attended by SHA President Gulfraz Ahmad Khan, Secretary Punjab Hockey Association and manager of the junior team Rana Mujahid, Director Sports Shahzad Bhatti and PSWA President Ghulam Mohammad besides the junior team.