The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) has elected its first female president in the governing body’s history.
Shehla Raza, a Pakistan Peoples Party senior leader and lawmaker, was unanimously elected as president after a meeting in Karachi.
Raza has previously served as vice president of Pakistan’s hockey federation.
The move follows Khalid Sajjad Khokhar’s resignation from the beleaguered federation after eight years in post and Pakistan men’s failure to qualify for another Olympic Games.
As one Pakistani newspaper put it this week, the “administration of Pakistan hockey has been chaotic, with financial crises leading to non-payment of allowances and contract salaries to players and coaches.”
Khokhar resigned from his post in February, nearly two months after caretaker Prime Minister Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar nominated Tariq Bugti as its hockey chief.
“I have sent my resignation to the prime minister [who is the patron of the PHF],” Khokhar told Dawn newspaper.
“We have failed to qualify for a third straight Olympics,” added Khokhar.
“The players [who have gone unpaid for six months] are demanding their dues and it isn’t easy to do anything without the support of the government.”
