PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Hockey Association on Thursday expressed strong exception over the excluding of their talented players from the national camp and demanded their immediate induction in the camp.
This was stated by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Hockey Association secretary while addressing a press conference soon after attended the general council meeting of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Hockey Association held at Qayyum Sports Complex. He said the teams of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Hockey Association have thoroughly been watched by a selection committee headed by Olympian Musaddiq Hussain, Olympian Naeem Akhtar, International Ihsan Ullah Khan, Yasir Islam and Zia Binori before final announcement.
He said the hockey teams got runners-up trophies in three of national level events but despite all such performances our players are being ignored and not even short-listed for the camp. “Our players deserved to be part of the national camp looking after their performances but were ignored ironically,” he said. All members of the general council of the Hockey Association, who are also members of the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) Congress, were unanimous over the selection of the players for the national camp, he said.
Flanked by Vice President Pakistan Hockey Federation Muhammad Saeed Khan and other members of the PHF Congress, Syed Zahir Shah disclosed that they have short-listed 66 players and later on 45 were announced for the camp but Khyber Pakhtunkhwa players were ignored in the camp despite the teams given stunning performance in the national championships. “We will not let anyone denied right to our players,” Syed Zahir said. About the decision of the Hockey Association General Council Meeting, he said, all are united on one page. He expressed the hope that PHF President would take notice over the ignorance of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa players.
He said the Inter-Club Hockey Championship would be organised in October this year in all districts and those district failed to organised Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Hockey Association would take action against them. He said Inter-Regional Hockey championship will be organised on November 5, 2016 in Abbottabad while the Inter-District Hockey Championship Under-18 will be played on November 30, 2016 at Lala Ayub Hockey Stadium.
He said the General Council unanimously endorsed the selection committee headed by former Olympian Naeem Akhtar, Musadiq Hussain, Yasir Islam, Syed Zia Binori and Ihsan Ullah. He said all 14 members took part in the meeting from as many districts.
