Pakistan’s once-dominant hockey team currently faces a tough time as the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) has struggled to pay its players and staff for the past six months due to financial crises.
According to reports, the employees at the PHF’s main office in Lahore and its branch in Karachi haven’t been received their salaries yet.
Reports also indicated that captain Imad Shakeel Butt wanted payment for participating in the Olympic qualifying round, but the government didn’t release the funds.
There’s also a dispute about who’s responsible for senior and junior players’ roles, and they need to open an assignment account for the funds.
PHF says that there are funds available for the next month’s salaries, while the remaining salaries for approximately the last 5 months belong to the previous management.
Additionally, they also said that the current administration is responsible for approximately 80 million rupees in payments.
It should be noted that the eight-time Olympic medalist, the Pakistan hockey team, did not secure a qualification spot for the Paris Olympics.
Furthermore, the current administration needs to make payments of 80 million rupees and the current administration closed the Federation’s accounts in the last week of December, which is why it is necessary to open the assignment account now.
Meanwhile, former President of PHF Brig (retd) Khalid Sajjad Khokar blamed both his predecessors and his successor for financial troubles.
The government of Pakistan halted funding to the PHF and suspended its accounts due to an ongoing inquiry into financial mismanagement.
