New beginning: Shahbaz appointed new PHF secretary

Mujahid resigns to give a new face a chance to steer Pakistan hockey

KARACHI: The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) accepted the resignations of PHF secretary Rana Mujahid and treasurer Shahid Ali Khan and announced their replacements — Olympian Shahbaz Senior and Akhlaq Usmani respectively — during a press conference at the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) Complex in Islamabad on Wednesday.

After giving a three-year extension to Mujahid in a PHF congress meeting last week, Mujahid opted to resign just four days later in order to give ‘a fresh face a chance to take Pakistan hockey forward’.

“I’m resigning from the post to allow the new president to make a like-minded team for the betterment of Pakistan hockey,” said Mujahid. “However, I am willing to assist the federation in any capacity that the current management deems fit.”

Olympian Shahbaz Senior has been named as the new secretary and Akhlaq Usmani has taken the post of the treasurer, while former centre-forward Abdul Rasheed Junior, who served as the national team’s manager during the 1994 Hockey World Cup, has been named as chief selector for both the seniors and the juniors.

Rasheed will be joined by Farhat Khan, Waseem Feroz, Saeed Khan and Shahbaz Junior, in the PHF selection committee.

Hassan Sardar, who was initially tipped to fill the chief selector’s vacant post, was named as the advisor, while Tahir Zaman was installed as head coach with Zeeshan Ashraf and Mohammad Irfan deployed as his assistants.

The announcements were made in the presence of PHF President Brigadier (retd) Khalid Sajjad Khokhar, Inter-Provincial Coordination Ministry secretary Ijaz Chaudhry and PSB Director General Dr Akhtar Nawaz Ganjera.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 3^rd,  2015.

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