Inter-school hockey tournament from Nov 12

KARACHI: Islahuddin and Dr Muhammad Ali Shah hockey academy is organising an Inter-School Boys and Girls hockey tournament and a veterans hockey league in collaboration with Dr Essa Laboratory and Diagnostic Centre, Olympian Islahuddin said at a press conference on Friday.

He said he had contacted the education department of Sindh government, which promised its full cooperation. Islah said that All Karachi Inter-School Boys and Girls hockey tournament would be started from November 12 at his academy ground. The teams of primary and secondary schools would participate in the event. The teams would be established with the help of sports officers.

The winning team will get Rs20,000 and the runners-up Rs10,000. Islah said that all matches of the veterans league would be organised on the weekend. Only 40-plus players will be eligible for the league.

The winning team will get Rs50,000 and the runners-up Rs25,000. Olympian Sameer Hussain will be the tournament director, while Mubashir Mukhtar and Tariq Khan will be assistant tournament directors.

All matches will be played under floodlights at Islah-Shah hockey academy. r Farhan Essa, also addressed the press conference, said his organization is always committed to organize the sporting events and competitions in various disciplines for the promotion of the healthy and sporting activities. There was need to promote hockey at grass root level, specially at school levels where hockey was diminishing despite this fact it was our national game, thus, he decided to organize the hockey events.

Former Olympians and international players inclduing Qamar Ibrahim, Ayaz Mehmood, Iftikhar Syed, Safdar Abbas, Arif Bhopali, Khalid Pracaha and others were also present.