The national junior team’s ninth position, the country’s worst ever finish in the history of the junior World Cup, surprised no one. Over the last few years, Pakistan hockey has achieved so many dubious distinctions that people have stopped getting surprised by its multiple failures.

But this spineless show at the Junior World Cup could be called the worst of all. Maybe, it is the last nail in the coffin.

Qasim Zia and Asif Bajwa took the control of the PHF in 2008. Current secretary, the omnipresent Rana Mujahid, was also part of the set up as associate secretary.

One of the very first steps of the regime was the announcement of establishing 18 academies across the country. "As the nursery has eroded due to lack of hockey activity at all the levels, school, college and even at clubs, the academies will provide the necessary talent," declared the PHF.

Thereafter, the academies became the hope as well as the excuse throughout. After every debacle -- the 12th position at the 2010 World Cup, 6th at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, 7th at the 2012 Olympics, or the unthinkable ouster from the 2014 World Cup -- the PHF would come out with, "It is just a matter of time. The youngsters trained at our academies will bring back the glory days."

The 2013 Junior World Cup was the true litmus test of this grand project, the PHF academies. The junior team, reportedly loaded with the best of the academy products, had been given a lot of international exposure all these years. Ten of the boys in Delhi had even appeared for the national senior team, a few for last many years. Yet Pakistan failed miserably.

These juniors were the last ray of hope as they were being prepared to form the nucleus of the national senior side for the next 4-5 years. But with their pathetic show at the Major Dhyan Chand stadium, any likelihood of turnaround in the fortunes of Pakistan hockey has ended. As has been the practice, the officials issued nonsensical statements such as, "The team played poorly in just one match (against Germany)".

In fact, it was very much evident after the first match, against Egypt, that the Greenshirts were out of their depth for the biggest event. Against the minnows, who eventually finished second last out of 16 teams, Pakistan barely managed to scrape through by a last minute goal. The way they were overrun by Germans in the next tie was an embarrassment for all the Pakistanis who watched the game.

By the time they gathered for the last pool match, all the hopes of reaching the quarterfinals had already evaporated. Pakistan needed to beat Belgium, the runners-up of the last European junior championships, by at least six goals. The miracle didn’t happen.

Another justification for the woeful show was, "We were placed in a very difficult pool". A team given a scare by Egypt would have struggled against any opposition.

One of the worst excuses came from the team’s manager Manzoorul Hasan who put it down to fatigue. "These players have been playing continuously for the last three months," he said. Whose fault was this? Manzoor assumed the charge as manager a few weeks before the Junior World Cup. He himself had stated at the time of takeover, "My only link with hockey over the last decade has been through TV and newspapers." Still the PHF gave him the most important assignment for the national juniors which comes once in four years.

The management even failed to inculcate the necessary match discipline and temperament. The boys were shown quite a few cards during the matches, including one red. Tens of millions were spent on the academies. The prime reason for the failure of the academies to provide suitable players was the appointment of incompetent coaches. The sole criterion was the allegiance to the top brass of the PHF.

Four years back, the National Assembly’s standing committee on sports grilled the PHF as well as the team members over Pakistan hockey team’s photo scandal during a tournament in Argentina. Pictures of some of the boys with their female Argentine liaison officers had appeared on social media websites. One wonders why the standing committee is silent after the series of disasters Pakistan hockey has been through over these years.

Rana Mujahid, who remained the manager and head coach of Pakistan’s junior team for four years before handing the charge to the fossil called Manzoorul Hasan only a couple of months back, is now the secretary of the PHF. Akhtar Rasool, the manager and head coach of Pakistan’s senior national team till a couple of months back, is the president of the PHF. Incidentally, the two national teams trained by these two men achieved the worst ever results. The under-21 side finished ninth at the Junior World Cup and the seniors failed to qualify for the World Cup -- first time ever in the country’s history.

With the dreaded duo presently holding the two most powerful positions in the PHF, one doesn’t have to be a Nostradamus to foresee the future of Pakistan hockey -- once the sporting pride and identity of the nation.