by Ubaid-ur-Rehman Awan
KARACHI: Top officials of the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) have been beating their own trumpet of hiring a foreign coach for the national hockey team, but since now, they have made no progress in this regard.
Secretary PHF, Asif Bajwa, admitted in an exclusive chat with awansports.blogspot.com on Wednesday that due to security reasons not even a single foreign coach is ready to work in Pakistan.
It’s interesting to note here that if such a situation persists then Pakistan will have to tour Europe with a Pakistani coach, just like they did in Malaysia for Sultan Azlan Shah Cup earlier this year.
Pakistan were once a power to reckon with in international field hockey and won number of tournaments including World Cup Titles along with Olympics, Champions Trophy, Commonwealth Games, Asian Games and other important field hockey tournaments around the globe, but currently the national game is going through its worst phase.
Bajwa told that the PHF is still trying its level best to rope in an experienced foreign coach and is in the process of negotiations with two to three coaches.
He further stated that things would clear up only after June 10, 2010 and hoped that the Federation would be able to bring at least one foreign coach round to its point of view and attract him for Pakistan hockey job.
It is important to mention here that Pakistan stood at 12th position in this year’s World Cup held in New Delhi. Since then, the PHF are on the hunt for a foreign coach for the national hockey team.
