PHF president, secretary to visit FIH HQ on June 3

KARACHI: The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) president Brig (retd) Khalid Sajjad Khokhar and secretary Shahbaz Ahmed will visit the International Hockey Federation (FIH) headquarter in Lausanne, Switzerland on June 3 to discuss the issues confronting Pakistan hockey, a PHF official told ‘The News’ on Saturday.

During the visit, the PHF chief and secretary will meet top officials of the FIH and would seek their help for the revival of hockey in Pakistan.

In November last year, the FIH president Leandro Negre and CEO Kelly Fairweather had visited Pakistan and assured PHF of their full support for the revival of sport in the country.

The official said that Khalid Khokhar and Shahbaz will leave for the visit on June 1.

“During the meeting with Negre, various directors of FIH would also be present,” he said.

The PHF heads will brief the FIH about their plans for Pakistan Hockey League (PHL) and would ask for their help to make the event successful.

Shahbaz, when contacted, confirmed that they are going the meet the FIH top hierarchy and termed the visit a golden opportunity for Pakistan hockey.

The PHF officials will also discuss with the FIH the possibilities of foreign teams’ tour of Pakistan for international matches after an improvement in law and order situation in the country. The federation is hoping that the PHL would help bring international players to Pakistan with each team to have four to five foreign players.

Khalid Khokhar and Shahbaz will also visit Scotland and Ireland to meet the heads of their hockey federations and to discuss the possibility of holding a series with each of the two countries. The PHF wants to stage hockey test series against both the countries at home and away.