A fresh start for Pak hockey

Another year has gone by. However, the fate of Pakistan hockey remains the same. The direction is nowhere to be seen as no unprecedented efforts are on to keep the tumbling fate of the country’s national sport back on track.

The year 2019 would be remembered more as one where several targets were missed and many opportunities were lost.

The foremost of all was missing the first ever FIH Pro League that was launched in 2019 and offered many avenues for those teams willing to compete and later competed. Pakistan were very first to show interest in becoming part of the league where barring India all other leading teams participated.

Without realising the pros and cons of this hasty decision, the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) was initially jumped in to make the occasion count. It was when they started realising that investment was too heavy for the ever sinking PHF’s kitty that they started backing up. The fallback of pulling out of the FIH Pro League so close to the start of the event was heavier than expected.

The PHF not only had to pay the fine but more importantly, their international ranking dipped to a new low resulting in tougher prospects for the 2020 Olympics.

Had Pakistan figured in the league there was every possibility that the Greenshirts were drawn against lower ranked team when it came to competing for a place in the 2020 Olympics.

Even against tougher opposition (Holland) Pakistan players showed unprecedented guts and almost succeeded in surprising them in first match before falling victim to lack of international match practice in the second a day later.

Now it would be for the second time in a row that Pakistan hockey would be seen missing out the world’s biggest show. Following Rio Games 2016 again Pakistan hockey fell in trap but this time in a different way.

Obviously it was lack of funds that continued to haunt Pakistan hockey promotion for the last couple of years. The federal government has always been the main supporter and sponsor of the national sport and had withdrawn its backing once Imran Khan’s party took over the reins.

On one hand, scarcity of funds even came hard on the domestic hockey activities. On the other hand, the PHF is yet to chalk up any alternate plan for continuous financial gains with the result that today the direction is nowhere to be seen.

There is totally uncertainty as what would be the future of the national sport from here on. We have already missed the Olympics and are not drawn to play in the second edition of the FIH Pro League. So the national senior string activities have almost come to a standstill.

All focus of the PHF incumbents now has shifted to junior team’s preparations for the World Cup qualifying round.

When these questions were put to PHF president Brig (r) Khalid Sajjad Khokhar, he admitted missing a good opportunity to qualify for Olympics.

“I have to admit here that financial constraints have come hard on Pakistan’s failing to qualify for Olympics. We have missed the Pro League after failing to get the required financial assistance for travelling, boarding and lodging. We thought initially that we would be in a position to compete in League but all our efforts to get the sponsors went fruitless. The government did not come to our help neither the corporate sector came forward. I think missing the Pro League turned out to be decisive factor in our efforts to make it to the Olympics. Had we get the required sponsors we would have been in a better position for a place in the Olympics.

“Ultimately we had to play against a tough opposition where our team made their presence felt. Even after staying in oblivion for so many months, Pakistan players gave good account of themselves and almost pulled of historic win in the first qualifier against powerful Dutch team. Lack of international exposure did haunt us in the second match.” The PHF president was not without positive hopes for future, saying that his main focus had now shifted to juniors.

“We have turned to juniors and are planning extensive camps, training and tour programmes for them for getting them ready for the World Cup qualifying round.”

Khokhar wanted some permanent solution to financial issues being faced by the PHF.

“Look there is a dire need to own our national game. Someone had to come forward. It was the federal government that used to support hockey. They are no longer doing so and they did that without giving any alternate plan.”

Whatever the reasons for this slide are, with the dawn of 2020, there is a need for fresh beginning on hockey front. It is a sport that brought laurels for the country in the past and can still do that provided we give it an honest try.