Mehwish Hayat vows to raise voice for Pakistan hockey, pays surprise visit to stadium

KARACHI: Aiming to raise voice for Pakistan's neglected national sport, hockey, renowned film star Mehwish Hayat on Friday evening paid a surprise visit to the Abdul Sattar Hockey Stadium to witness the ongoing matches of the National Hockey Championship.

Mehwish arrived at the stadium with her brother, surprising everyone, including players and tournament officials.

The 'Gangster Guriya' of the film 'Baji' was welcomed at the stadium by Hanif Khan, Iftekhar Saeed, and Haider Hussain, who briefed her about the ongoing championship.

Mehwish also met players and coaches participating in the tournament, asking if they needed any support.

Former Pakistan captain Rehan Butt suggested that showbiz stars should give hockey players an equal amount of importance as they give to cricketers.

"We only expect you to promote hockey as ambassadors. When you do a show, invite some hockey players there as well just like you invite Kamran Akmal or Mohammad Aamir," Rehan Butt suggested.

Mehwish agreed.

"We talk a lot about cricket. We must realise that we have won more titles in hockey than in cricket. We have won four World Cups and three Olympic titles," she said.

"We are too much focused on cricket. Hockey needs our focus as well," said the film star.

Mehwish was also well informed about the history and decline of Pakistan hockey, and, probably that is why she opted to support the game.

"Once we were number one in hockey, but now we are at our lowest. We are now even struggling to qualify for the Olympics. I believe that government must take drastic steps to revive hockey in Pakistan," she said.

The award-winning artist agreed that showbiz celebrities must play a role to support all the neglected sports by highlighting the achievements on their respective forums.

She added that mainstream media and social media attention is very important to help any sports grow.

"I am also surprised that the national tournament of hockey is not getting broadcast live anywhere. How can we expect games to achieve glory without live broadcast? We need to work to save the national sport," she said.

"Hockey being our national sport needs our attention. We all need to come together to support hockey," Mehwish added.

The film star hoped that there would be people in the stands cheering for the teams, but was disappointed to see barely any spectators present at the stadium.

The presence of Pakistan's top film artist at the hockey stadium was also a pleasant surprise for the current and former hockey players.

While the youngsters got selfies with her, former players were also seen telling Mehwish about how they liked her character in various movies.

The film star, however, wanted to remain focused on hockey. So she grabbed a hockey stick and tried to test her skills as former Pakistan player Haider Hussain gave her some basic hockey tips.