LAHORE (August 30, 2021): Director General Sports Punjab Adnan Arshad Aulakh appreciated the talent of Punjab’s female hockey players and said that Punjab has plenty of hockey potential which is an encouraging sign for future of hockey in Pakistan; he expressed these views while talking to media on Monday, the third and last day of trials of Punjab’s nine divisional teams for participation in First Chief Minister Punjab 5-a-Side National Women Hockey Championship scheduled to start from September 7, 2021 at National Hockey Stadium.
Director General Sports Punjab Adnan Arshad Aulakh also witnessed the trials of Punjab’s divisional teams together with Director Sports Hafeez Bhatti, Deputy Director Chand Perveen, Assistant Director Raees ur Rehman and Security Incharge Col (retd) Shabbir. He visited different departments and inspected the arrangements of the grand hockey championship.
Secretary Punjab Hockey Association Asif Naz Khokhar, Divisional Sports Officers Rana Nadeem Anjum (Multan), Ata ur Rehman (DG Khan) and members of SBP selection committee were also present on this occasion.
On the third day, the SBP selection committee conducted the trials of players of four divisions - Multan, Bahawalpur, DG Khan and Rawalpindi. As many as 13 players from Multan, 10 from DG Khan and five from Bahawalpur appeared in the trials.
After the trials, the training camp of 25 selected players of Punjab’s two teams will commence on August 31, 2021 at the National Hockey Stadium.
In his media talk, Director General Sports Punjab Adnan Arshad Aulakh said that Sports Board Punjab is making effective efforts for the promotion of hockey among the young generation of the province. “First Chief Minister Punjab 5-a-Side National Women Hockey Championship is a big event in which teams from all provinces and leading departments are participating”.
Director General Sports Punjab Adnan Arshad Aulakh said recently we organized Quaid-e-Azam and Independence Day Hockey events. “We have found several talented male and female players through these championships. We are also imparting further training to these budding players so that they can perform satisfactorily in future national and international hockey competitions”.
Director General Sports Punjab Adnan Arshad Aulakh further said Sports Board Punjab is focusing on the promotion of all games. “Sports Board Punjab will organize competitions of Fastest Man and Woman of Punjab, javelin throw and other athletics competitions in near future besides holding a championship of one game every month,” he added.
It may be noted here that as many as 12 under-25 teams will participate in the tournament. Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will field two teams each in the tournament while Balochistan, Islamabad, Army, HEC, Wapda and Railways will send one team each for the grand hockey tournament.