Lahore(Cliff News)Pakistan Hockey Federation’s Director Development & Domestic, Olympian Naveed Alam, in a widely attended press conference at the National Hockey Stadium, Lahore, highlighted the salient features of the National Inter Club competition scheduled fromOctober 24 to December 2.Naveed Alam informed that the national inter club competition is being held for the first time since 2006 and would involve 144 districts across the country.”Going by the slogan, ‘Hockey for All’ this inter club event invites all the clubs, whether registered or unregistered, to participate.Events will be organised by the respective District Hockey Associations, moving to Regions by the Regional HAs and then by the Provincial HAs- all under the umbrella of the PHF and the supervision of the Director Development and Domestic. The final national round would see four teams from Punjab, three each from Sind and KPK, two from Balochistan and one each from Islamabad, AJK, Gilgit- Baltistan and FATA. “”At the district level, district hockey associations under the secretary DHAs, will supervise the event. The respective Deputy Commissioners/District Coordination Officers and District Sports Officers will be fully involved. The estimated expenditure of Rs one million in each district would be borne primarily by the district administration through the allocated sports’ budget. PHF will facilitate mainly by providing the equipment. The response from the district administration has been very encouraging. Already, dormant grounds have been activated through the administration in many districts.” “This grass root nation wide event would go a long way in restoring hockey players’ confidence plus of course help identify raw talent. The genuine hockey clubs would come to the fore and fake clubs (existing only in papers) will be eliminated.National disciplinary and scrutiny committee has already been instituted to attend to any complaint made at any level.Efforts are afoot to televise all the provincial finals as well as the national final. Here, it is pertinent to mention that the provincial and national finals will be played on the league basis.
PHF’s will also try to find jobs for the best players seen in the competition.” Naveed Alam said, “I will address press conferences in all the provinces to highlight the importance of the inter club competition.”To a question, he answered, “I agree that flaws and mistakes would surface in such a big exercise. But we will make our best efforts to deal with them in a just manner.”He also requested the media to play its part in making the event a success by giving good coverage to the national inter club tournament. Also, don’t hesitate to mention our shortcomings, Naveed Alam added.