Pak hockey now faces another stiff challenge

ISLAMABAD: After finishing seventh in 10-team XXI Commonwealth Games that did not include six of the world’s top 12-teams, Pakistan hockey now faces another stiff challenge in the concluding Champions Trophy where arch-rivals India will be their first opponents on June 23 in Breda (The Netherlands).

Pakistan finished behind world’s 23rd ranked Scotland in the XXI Games on a position which turned out to be the worst ever. In absence of teams like Germany, Holland , Argentina, Belgium, Spain and even were not drawn to play the ultimate finalist New Zealand and Australia, Pakistan 7th position was poorest ever in the Commonwealth Games.

Now the team faces another tough outing in the last Champions Trophy starting in The Netherlands in two months time. The event that runs up to July 1 would again be missing teams like Germany and Spain. The field however includes Pakistan, Australia, Argentina, India, Belgium and host The Netherlands.

Pakistan deliberately missed the penultimate Champions Trophy held two years back more due to fear of losing rather than anything else. Though Pakistan did not qualify for that particular Trophy, FIH while showing courtesy to the services rendered by Air Marshal Nur Khan (who initiated the Trophy) offered Pakistan a wild card to compete in the event. The fear of not matching the best overcame the current Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) officials who decided against sending the team to London. Belgium seized the opportunity and from there on never looked back emerging as one of the strongest teams in the world.

On other hand, the deliberate miss proved fatal as greenshirts never recovered from that blow and consistently kept on losing their ranking to end up 14th and now 13th in the world. The team, however, would get a chance of redemption as a good performance in the concluding Champions Trophy would help them improve their ranking. In fact the nation demands nothing less than title from the team. Since Pakistan is the proud winner of first two editions of the Trophy in late seventies, there would be no better and befitting sending off to Champions Trophy than to bring it back home.

Admitted that Pakistan never won the Trophy after 1994, still we came closer to victory only three years back in India when Akhtar Rasool was the head of federation. Pakistan lost to Germany narrowly in the final in front of hostile Indian crowd. This time around Pakistan have all the odds in their favour. The team has experience foreign coach in Renault Oltmans who turned the Indian team into one of the world’s top outfit during the last three years. The finance for the current PHF is in abundance as the government during the last three years has doled out record grant to the federation. All the federation needs is a sincere and honest effort and the victory could be Pakistan’s this time. Besides playing India on the opening day on June 23, Pakistan are to face Australia on June 24, The Netherlands on June 26. Pakistan’s next opponent would Argentina on June 28. Pakistan’s last round robin match would be against Belgium on June 29. Positional matches including final are scheduled for July 1.