Islamabad gears up for national junior hockey championship

Islamabad will host the 37th National Junior Hockey Championship, set to be held from September 25 to October 5, according to the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF).

The matches will be played in Lieutenant General (retd) Ishfaq Nadeem Hockey Stadium Rawalpindi.

Regarding top junior hockey fixtures, the federation has written a letter to all provinces and its affiliated units to prepare their teams for the national event.

According to the statement issued by the federation, players born on and after January 1, 2003, are eligible to participate in the championship.

However, Sindh’s participation in the event was not confirmed.

Akbar Ali Qaimkhani, the association’s secretary, alleged that the PHF contracted a parallel unaffiliated body instead of recognising the Sindh Hockey Association.

He urged the provincial sports minister to take strict action against those operating the unauthorised association.

The clashes in the PHF emerged due to the leadership battle between two groups, which had separately held presidential elections and selected their own presidents, Shehla Raza from one group and Tariq Bugti from another.

Ms Raza had declared Bugti’s elections as ‘null and void’ due to the lack of proper presence of representatives, while Bugti claimed Raza involved non-members and created a parallel federation.