Living by their core values of equality, inclusion and diversity, the Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) invited young children from lesser privileged background to the venue of ongoing Hero Asia Cup at the GBK Sports Arena where the children were taught basic skills of hockey and were presented with hockey sticks and bag full of goodies.
It was a cheerful day, on the side-lines of the mega World Cup Qualifying event here in Jakarta, as officials from AHF including the President Dato Fumio Ogura, Chief Executive AHF Dato Tayyab Ikram and Secretary General of Indonesia Hockey Federation Yasser Arafat along with Chief Executive Officer of Polytan Asia Pacific Steven Niven interacted with the children and encouraged them to play hockey.
Kids were taught hockey drills by the legendary player and former coach Tahir Zaman and former Pakistani player Zahid Ali. They also engaged in fun hockey banter with AHF Director Elisabeth Fuerst.
The 100-odd children from orphanages Panti Asuhan Griya Asih, Rumah Piatu Muslimin and Yayasan Pa van der Steur are part of an ongoing-program conducted by the Indonesia Hockey Federation and the event held on Wednesday was part of the FIH Inclusion and Diversity initiative.
A delighted Dato Fumio Ogura who presented the children with hockey sticks said, “These campaigns are very important for us as humans. Our intent is to serve the people with the help of sport and also to encourage the rest of the sporting world to do the same. Sport is all about making a difference and improving life for ourselves and others.”
Adding to Ogura’s thoughts, Steven Niven of Polytan said, “It was very encouraging to see the opportunities provided to the children and try and get their participation in sport particularly hockey.”
Talking about the initiative Dato Tayyab Ikram, who is also the Member of IOC Commission and Chairman of FIH International and Olympic Relation said, “Inclusion and diversity is at the very heart of FIH as well as the Asian Hockey Federation and we strongly believe sport can be a unifier, bring all sections of the society together.”
“We at FIH and AHF are constantly working towards making the sport of hockey an inclusive environment for everybody. This is also the core value of the Olympic Movement and it was wonderful to watch these young children enjoy the sport. The intent of the event was to bring happiness to them through sport and I am very delighted that we were able to create a happy memory for them.”
