09-Feb-2012
The News
KARACHI: The PHF Academy project is nothing but a farce, said former hockey great Samiullah on Wednesday.
The Academy failed to win even a single match in the National Hockey Championship despite investment of millions in it, he told PPI. The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) had been lauding its PHF Academy for a long time and in the past had said that the academies would serve as a nursery for junior hockey players, who would go on to make a strong national team.
“Around eight of our top players will retire after Olympics so who will fill that massive gap after Olympics? The PHF Academy players cannot fill that gap because they were not even able to pull a single victory in national championship,” Samiullah said.
He said that PHF has been working on its academies from 2008 and spending money on coaches and players. “The national academy team should have potential to pull at least a few victories in the national championship. But they lost all nine matches, which shows that the federation has failed in its expensive academy project,” Samiullah said.
“The federation should now admit its fault and do some good to our national sport in atonement,” he said. He further said that the federation, which has threatened to bring 13 former Olympians to court, has now become sluggish in its claims. Samiullah is among the 13 Olympians who were sent notices by the federation for allegedly defaming the federation.
The thirteen Olympians wrote to Prime Minister, who is the Patron-in-Chief of the PHF, about the federation’s unconstitutional conduct. The federation was also accused of human-trafficking. “They have done nothing even after many weeks have passed since we responded to their notices,” Samiullah said. “At least the officials of the federation will now discontinue the human-trafficking because of our efforts,” added the former Olympian. |
