Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) president Brig (retd) Khalid Sajjad Khokar Monday said the federation is doing hard work for the betterment and progress of national game hockey despite facing a shortage of funds.

He was sure that recent meetings with PM Imran Khan, COAS Qamar Jawed Bajwa, IPC minister, and the chief ministers would bring positive results and resolve the issue of financial constraints.

He was optimistic that with the availability of the required amount of funds, the PHF would be able to resume the journey of success in the game of hockey and we would be able to regain the past glories of Pakistan hockey.

The PHF president informed the PHF is launching talent hunt programs in Kashmir, Northern Areas, Gilgit and in KP’s Tribal areas, former FATA, to find fresh talent, which would be physically strong and having access to national hockey so that the strength and power of Pakistan hockey can be further strengthened.

Khokar said the PHF always used the funds in the right place so that the journey of the improvement of the national game continues.

The PHF president said it is true that there is a severe shortage of hockey infrastructure in Pakistan.

“In the Netherlands, alone, there are more than 500 modern hockey turfs. While in Pakistan there are a dozen hockey turfs but we must remember that Pakistan has won the Olympic gold medal thrice and won world cups four times and many other international hockey titles by playing on the same dozen turfs. We are trying to improve our hockey infrastructure and planning the journey to success, keeping in mind our resources.”

The PHF president said that when he took over the charge of the hockey federation, he started many new departmental hockey teams and revive the closed departmental hockey teams.

“We had created employment opportunities which started to solve the financial problems of our hockey players to a great extent but later this process could not go ahead but now we are once again trying to solve the financial problems of our hockey players with the support of the Government and sure that we will soon be able to overcome this problem.”