Plans in place to stage international tournament in Pakistan: PHF

Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) President brig (retd) Khalid Sajjad Khokhar on Wednesday said reiterated plans to stage an international tournament in the country, The News reported. 

Khokhar said that efforts were being made to stage an eight-a-side international tournament in the country later this year, with Lahore being the likely venue.  

"We have been in talks with the International Hockey Federation (FIH) regarding the hosting of an international hockey tournament in Pakistan this year," said Khokhar. 

"It’s all in the initial stages but we are hopeful that things will work out." 

The idea involves having second-tier hockey-playing nations, who are not part of the 2020 edition of FIH Hockey Pro League, play in a world ranking tournament. 

The proposed tournament could feature team such as Canada, Malaysia, France, Ireland, Korea, Japan and Pakistan. 

"We wanted to stage the tournament in Lahore sometime in September or October," said Khokhar. 

“But due to the coronavirus pandemic we might go for a slot in the later part of the year. At the moment we will wait and see how the situation changes in the coming weeks,” he said.

Not only will the tournament bring international hockey back to the country, it will also help the national team get an opportunity to earn vital world rankings points.

A slump in form and results over the past few decades and lack of opportunities to feature in major international tournaments have left Pakistan at a dismal 17th place in the world rankings - a major fall for a country which was once regarded as a superpower in international hockey.

“Our team needs maximum opportunities to earn world ranking points and an international tournament at home will give them a good chance to take a shot,” said Khokhar. 

Pakistan are almost out of all major international tournaments after their failure to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.

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