PHF to announce incentive to boost players at Olympics

Lahore, Jul 26 (UNI) The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) will announce an incentive package for the national team with a view to encourage the players to perform their best at the Beijing Olympics next month, ''It is the first time that the PHF is going to announce attractive cash incentives for the players and this package is being introduced to further inspire the team for improving its performance,'' PHF sources told mediapersons here yesterday.

They added that team members will be encouraged in every match and players will be getting financial benefits right from the beginning of the tournament.

''We want to acknowledge every good performance and that is why we will offer cash prize of 300 dollar to each player on winning the pool matches,'' the sources maintained.

''It has become a common practice to reward players for their achievements and we are following it to improve the performance of our hockey players who are less privileged than cricketers.'' If the team reaches the semi-final, each member will win a 1000cc car. If they win the title, the players will be richer by Rs 1.5 million each.

PHF secretary Mohammad Asif Bajwa has personally informed the team members about the package in a recent meeting and urged them to put up a better performance to regain Olympic glory.

''This package does not end at Olympics and whenever our team will be producing productive results in important tournaments we will be rewarding them through cash incentives,'' Bajwa said.

''It is our common duty to revive hockey and provision of cash incentives and better facilities can help us in getting good results from the team,'' he added.

Bajwa also increased the daily allowance of the players to Rs 800 from Rs 500.

Pakistan captain Zeeshan Ashraf has welcomed the package.

''I am confident that the team will come up to the expectations and cash rewards will be an added attraction for the players to do better,'' he stated. ''It is good gesture shown by PHF and we value their efforts to motivate the team to exhibit encouraging performance in Olympics.'' UNI XC AB RKM HS2015