By Omar Khalid
Karachi, Nov 14 (IANS) The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) has decided to reward the national players by awarding them with central contracts for the first time.

PHF has allocated a budget of over Rs.10 million annually to pay monthly salaries to 25 of the country’s top hockey players. The PHF executive board, which met in Lahore Saturday, has approved the Performance Based Incentive Programme for the players.

PHF president Qasim Zia said that initially 25 players will be divided in four categories on seniority basis.

Seven A category players will get Rs.50,000, five B category players will get Rs.40,000 and six C category players will get Rs.30,000 each per month. Group D will have seven players and will get Rs.15,000 per month.

The contracts will be awarded for three months on seniority basis and in future it will be awarded on performance basis.

Category A players are Pakistan captain Zeeshan Ashraf, Muhammad Imran, Sohail Abbas, Waseem Ahmad, Rehan Butt, Shakeel Abbasi and Salman Akbar. Category B players are Nasir Ahmad, Akhtar Ali, Waqas Sharif, Muhammad Zubair and Sajjad Anwar. Category C players are Abdul Haseem Khan, Abbas Haider, Muhammad Rashid, Muhammad Imran, Fareed Ahmad and Muhammad Shafqat. Category D players will be announced later after the consultation with the national selection committee.

Qasim Zia also announced the team management of Pakistan Whites (U-22) Hockey Team for the South Asian Games being held from Jan 29 to Feb 8 in Dhaka.

Olympian Muhammad Akhlaq will be the team manager, Muhammad Shahbaz Jr. will be the Head Coach, while Danish Kaleem and Ahmad Alam will be his assisatants.