Shahnaz Sheikh concerned about hockey at grass root level in Pakistan
After the astonishing failure met by Pakistan’s Under-18 Junior men hockey team against Korea in Singapore yesterday, on June 26, former Olympian, Shahnaz Sheikh, stated that the hockey at grass-root level in Pakistan needs attention by Pakistan Hockey
Federation (PHF).
According to him, it is a matter of concern that despite the absence of two biggest contenders, India and China, Pakistan failed to defend its title this year. It becomes all the more disappointing after looking at the lavish amount of spending over
the academies built for these juniors.
Shahnaz, the former Pakistan hockey team’s manager, stated, “The present PHF setup is the most privileged federation in the history of Pakistan from monetary perspective as none of the former federations received such big grants from the government.
In spite of having spent millions of rupees on its academies, it is still failing to produce quality players.”
He blamed the federation for this failure, stating the fact that PHF prefers engaging its own personnel for the operation of these academies that lack the expertise and knowledge to do the job.
Shahnaz disclosed the names of few such persons, namely Shah Jahan Khan of Peshawar, the coach of PHF Pindi academy, who is being paid PKR 10,000 per month and has never played hockey at international level. It has been noted that he never
came to the academy ground for the players’ training.
Naveed Alam, a former coach of senior hockey team and Olympian, added over the issue by saying that the number of coaches is greater than the players attending the academies.
According to Alam, Korea is not stronger than Pakistan and PHF must appoint a committee to address the matter concerning loss to South Korea 2-1, after giving an unbeatable record of 53 goals at the tournament. Alam believed that the match may have been fixed.
Naveed added that only ten academies participated in the tournament held for the academies, but according to the stats, PHF opened 18 academies overall. Therefore, it can be concluded that not all the academies are currently working for the development
of the junior players in the country.
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