Hockey team rejects measley $20 allowance for Olympic qualifiers

Players, supposed to receive $150 per day, would rather wait than take reduced amount.

KARACHI:

The Pakistan hockey team departed last night for the Hockey World League semi-finals, where they need to finish in the top three in order to qualify for the Olympics. However, the players have decided to reject the announced $20 daily allowance, some way short of Pakistan Hockey Federation’s (PHF) promise of $150.

The players refused to accept the $20 grant set by the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) and have demanded that the PHF pay them the $150 as per the rules set by the federation’s Rules and Regulation Committee.

Read: Imran to lead Pakistan at Hockey World League

PSB had decided to support the PHF, which is facing a financial crisis, by announcing the $20 per day allowance for each player in keeping with the sport board’s policy, along with all traveling and accommodation expenses of the team during the competition.

However, the players are less than happy with the announcement, saying that it is not the PSB’s responsibility, nor its prerogative, to be paying the dailies. “We have made a collective decision to reject the $20 daily allowance announced by the PSB and have asked PHF to pay us the $150 as per PHF rules,” Muhammad Imran, who was announced as the captain for the tournament, told The Express Tribune. “We have played without being paid in the past and are ready to play in this tournament too, but we want the PHF to pay the amount it is supposed to, even if we have to wait for it.”

The team will be in Belgium for 21 days, meaning that each player was supposed to receive $3,150 during the time but would have instead gotten just $420.

The PHF is also yet to pay the dues of the recent tours to Australia for the four-nation tournament and the Korean Test match series, which amount to $2,850 per player.



By the end of this qualification round, the PHF will owe each player around $6,000 for the three tours, along with $100 for the recently concluded training camp.

Read: 2016 Rio Olympics: PSB to fund qualification bid

The players, however, are willing to wait. “We want to serve the country and bring Pakistan hockey back to its former glory,” said Imran. “Money is important but we will serve the country as best as we can and will let the government know that hockey still has the potential to make Pakistan proud.”

PHF to clear dues soon

PHF, which has debts of over Rs10 million, has said that it will pay the players as soon as the pending grant is approved.

“We are with the team and the management and appreciate the way they have cooperated with the PHF by not only playing for Pakistan but also winning medals without being paid,” said PHF secretary Rana Mujhaid. “We will pay every single penny of the players’ outstanding dues soon.”

‘Team selected on recent performance’

Imran added that the team has been selected on the basis of the players’ recent performances as there is little room for experiment at this stage.

“We cannot take a risk at this point — we need our best team to book our place at the Olympics and for that we have made some changes and included experienced players such as Rashid Mehmood and Muhammad Rizwan Senior, and a youngster Azfar Yaqoob, who has been performing well in the recent national and international events,” said the skipper.

Imran added that the team will not take any opponent lightly as the side which makes use of their chances is the one who most often wins in modern hockey. “Australia will be a tough team to play against and India are always an exciting opponent,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 15^th,  2015.

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