KARACHI: Governor Sindh Kamran Tessori has expressed his desire that a couple of matches of the Olympic qualifying rounds of hockey for Paris Olympics 2023 should be organised in Karachi.
He expressed this in a meeting with the secretary of Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) Secretary General Haider Hussain on Thursday.
Tesori said that it is an honour for Pakistan to host the Olympic Qualifier event for Paris Olympics 2024. He said that PHF should try to hold one or two matches of Olympic Qualifying round in Karachi.
The International Hockey Federation (FIH) has allotted Olympic Qualifying round to Pakistan from January 13-24, 2024. Meanwhile, it was learnt that PHF will send the final 18 names of Pakistan senior team to organising committee of Asian Games on July 14, the last date for sending the names of the players.
The PHF is organising the trials in Lahore two days before its old schedule (July 15-16) to select the team for Asian Champions Trophy and Asian Games to meet the deadline, sources said.
Pakistan will participate in the upcoming Asian Games, scheduled from September 23 to October 8 in Hangzhou, China. If Pakistan win Gold in the event, they won’t be a part of the Qualifiers in the country.
Haider Hussain said they are ready to host an international event after so many years.
“It’s honour for us to get the hosting rights of an international event,” said Hussain. “After 1990’s Hockey World Cup, we are going to host an international event which will have eight teams. I hope the excitement and curiosity would be the same as it were back then,” he added.
Hussain also believes that Olympic Qualifiers will break the ice for more international events in the country. The PHF, meanwhile, has started planning for hosting the event in a successful manner.
