LAHORE: The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) has decided to increase the travelling allowance/daily allowance (TA/DA) of its national, junior and women teams on foreign tours, besides introducing a bonus for men and women’s teams for winning matches against opponents ranked above Pakistan.

PHF secretary Asif Bajwa made this announcement after attending an internal meeting of the federation, chaired by president Qasim Zia here on Monday.

Bajwa reckoned the increase in TA/DA would motivate the players to improve their performance for the country.

The PHF official said the daily allowance for the players of the senior team and its management had been raised to US$150 from US$100 for each player and staff member.

Similarly, he added, each member of junior men’s team would receive US$100 per day instead of US$70. The TA/DA of the junior team management had also been fixed at US$150. The TA/DA for the national women’s team has also been increased to US$70 from US$50.

Bajwa further said every player of the national men and women’s team would be awarded Rs10,000 for winning any international match against a team enjoying better world ranking than Pakistan.

Meanwhile, Bajwa said the PHF was planning to field the best possible squad in the upcoming Olympic Games.

“The PHF is trying to organise at least 20 international matches to help prepare the national team for the London extravaganza,” he said.

Commenting on the axing of three senior players — captain Mohammad Imran, Waseem Ahmad and Salman Akbar — from the list of Olympics probables, Bajwa said there were many reasons for making those changes.

He insisted that the PHF had a strong back-up to fill those places with talented Kashif Shah, Fareed Ahmed, Tausiq Ahmed and Imran Butt.—Sports Reporter