By Asghar Ali Mubarak
Rawalpindi: The 2nd Mari Petroleum Azadi Hockey Cup will start today from August 15 in Rawalpindi, according to Azadi Hockey Cup event media coordinator Zulfiqar Baig, under the supervision of Pakistan Hockey Federation will be played In order to supervise the tournament in the best way, a meeting was arranged with the technical officials and umpires appointed by Pakistan Hockey Federation along with Tournament Director Olympian Nasir Ali and Organizing Secretary Colonel Retired Muhammad Yameen in Pakistan Sports Board Allama Iqbal Hostel.
On this occasion, the tournament director Olympian Nasir Ali said in his address to the umpires and technical officials that the umpires and technical officials play a key role in making any tournament successful. The Technical Officials shall try their best in the tournament to discharge their professional responsibilities with utmost honesty and impartiality and play their part to make the tournament successful as well as to avoid any untoward incident.
On this occasion, the organizing secretary and director of the tournament, Sports Mari Petroleum Company Limited Colonel Retired Mohammad Yameen said that the organization
In the light of the directives of MD/CEO Faheem Haider, this tournament will help to find future heroes and the players will make the country famous around the world. It will give players an opportunity to join the national squad. Event Media Coordinator Zulfiqar Baig, Syed Zia Hussain Bukhari, Muhammad Hafeez, Ameer Hamza, Irfan Tahir, Haji Naeem, Rizwan Khan, Ustad in the Technical Officials and Empires meeting held with Tournament Director Olympian Nasir Ali and Tournament Organizing Secretary Colonel Retd Muhammad Yamin. Saeed, Asad Abbas, Anwar Hussain, Tahir Sharif Gujjar, Naveed Ahmed, Fahad Ali Khan, Malik Safdar, Haider Ali, Murtaza Bhatti, Gulfam Khokhar, Asif Baig, Hamza Tufail, Haroon Al Rashid, Asif Shehzad, Kamran Shah and Akhtar Ali were included. It should be noted that departmental teams will participate in the event, including the host team Mari Petroleum, Pakistan WAPDA, Pakistan Army, Pakistan Navy, Pakistan Air Force, Police and Punjab Rangers.
The event will be conducted in light of FIH and PHF rules and regulations. Technical officials and umpires have been deputed by the Pakistan Hockey Federation to supervise the mega event.
Second, the tournament director of Mari Petroleum Azadi Hockey Cup, 1984 Olympics and 1982 World Cup gold medalist, Pride of Performance Olympian Nasir Ali, has been appointed while Shuja Iqbal Raja (Rawalpindi) and Major R. Tariq Ahmed (Rawalpindi) have been appointed assistant tournament directors.
Lt. Col. R. Muhammad Yameen Khan (Mari Petroleum) will perform the duties of Organizing Secretary while Dr. Ahsan Tanveer (Islamabad) has been appointed as Deputy Organizing Secretary. Event media coordinator will be Zulfiqar Baig (Rawalpindi) while assistant media coordinator will be Muhammad Hafeez (Islamabad). Lt. Col. R. Mohammad Asif Naz Khokhar (Lahore) has been appointed as the chief coordinator. In the jury of appeal, ex-captain of the national hockey team, 1984 Olympics gold medalist, 1982 World Cup gold medalist, Pride of Performance Olympian Hanif Khan (Karachi) as chairman, while former international Hockey champions Rana Muhammad Shafiq (Toba Tek Singh) and Rai Usman Akbar (Lahore) will be members.
In the technical officials panel of the second Mari Petroleum Azadi Hockey Cup, Haji Naeem (Rawalpindi), Tariq Butt (Lahore), Syed Zia Hussain Bukhari (Rawalpindi), Asif Baig (Islamabad), Akhtar Ali (Hyderabad), Yasir Lodhi (CASCO), Muhammad Yasin (Rawalpindi), Rafiqur Rahman (Rawalpindi), Murtaza Bhatti (Rawalpindi), Tahir Sharif Gujar (Whari), Hamza Tufail (Peshawar), Asif Shahzad (Islamabad), Naveed Ahmed (Islamabad) and Gulfam Khokhar (Islamabad). ) Included.
Empires Panel: Anwar Hussain (Army), Yasir Khurshid International (Railways), Haroon Rashid International (Peshawar), Ameer Hamza (Air Force), Waqas Ahmed Butt (WAPDA), Asad Abbas (Army), Wasim (Army), Fahad Ali Khan (Karachi), Irfan Tahir (Bahawalpur), Zahid Ali (Larkana), Rizwan Khan (Karachi) and Malik Safdar (Islamabad). He thanked the Provincial Coordination (IPC) and Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) for giving the No Objection Certificate (NOC) to the national team to allow them to participate in the Asian Hockey Champions Trophy.
It should be remembered that the Asian Hockey Champions Trophy tournament was held in Chennai, India from August 3 to 12. The Indian hockey team won a record fourth title by defeating Malaysia 4-3 in the final. Japan beat Korea 5-3 to take the third place, while Pakistan beat China 6-1 to take the fifth position.
