9-a-side tournament: PHF to reward goal scorers

Rs5,000 to be handed out each time a goal is netted

KARACHI: In order to tempt the players to score more often, the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) has decided to offer a cash bonus of Rs5,000 to all goal-scorers for every strike in the 9-a-side hockey tournament, which will be played from August 7 at Karachi’s Abdul Sattar Edhi Hockey Stadium.

The decision to reward the scoring of goals is the latest in a series of moves the federation has made in order to revive the ailing national game and lure disinterested crowds back to stadiums.

“The prize money for each goal scored in the tournament will encourage players to up their goal production, which in turn will increase attacking maneuvers and make the game more entertaining,” PHF secretary Shahbaz Ahmed Sr told The Express Tribune. “This will also help the players financially.”

The reward also has the blessing of National Bank of Pakistan captain Tousiq Arshad, who said, “Every player is happy and excited about the goal prize money, which means that everyone will be desperate to score goals.”

Another national player, Arslan Qadir added, “In our recent training camp we analysed that our goal-scoring and attacking is weak. We have worked a lot to improve this aspect and the prize money on offer will surely keep everyone motivated in front of the goal.”

In addition to introducing individual prize money, the PHF has also significantly boosted the total prize money, with the number expected to be somewhere between Rs2 million and Rs2.5 million.

Meanwhile, the opening ceremony of the 9-a-side tourney will double as the official renaming ceremony of the Abdul Sattar Edhi Hockey Stadium and will be conducted by PHF president Brig (R) Khalid Sajjad Khokhar — also the chief guest for the occasion.

In all, six teams will take part in the inaugural tournament, Army, Navy and Air force being the notable absentees due to their engagement in the Inter-service Hockey Tournament. The final competing teams are PIA, Wapda, SSGC, NBP, Custom as well as a sixth PHF Development team, which will be composed of young and promising players.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 4^th, 2016.

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