Pakistan’s national senior hockey team couldn’t qualify for the 2016 Olympics. Hence, the biggest event for Pakistan hockey in the years 2016 and 2017 is the Junior World Cup which is only a few weeks ahead, starting from December 8.

The recently-concluded Sultan of Johor Cup in the Malaysian city of Johor Bahru provided the ideal platform for the assessment of the preparedness of our national under-21 side for the biggest show. Pakistan were under great pressure as they had ended last sixth in each of the previous two years at Sultan of Johor Cup and also never reached the podium in any of the six editions of this annual invitational tournament. A morale booster was badly required.

There are no separate rankings for the national junior sides. Hence, one has to go by the FIH rankings for the national senior sides. Of the six teams at SOJC, Pakistan at 13th were the fourth ranked side, behind Australia (1st), England (7th) and New Zealand (8th), with only Malaysia (14th) and Japan (16th) ranked below them.

Head coach TahirZaman had bravely announced, "We will target the podium" in the lead up to the event.

Pakistan’s campaign at the SOJC 2016 makes an interesting read. The start was a highly impressive 5-2 win over New Zealand. It was 3-2 with five minutes left. Pakistan scored last two goals in that period.  Their second opponents England, in the colours of Great Britain, had lifted the last year’s cup. It was a memorable game. Pakistan trailed 0-2 with just seven minutes left. In a captivating spell of attacking hockey, the Green-shirts, despite squandering a penalty stoke, pulled out a 2-2 draw. Next, they faced Malaysia. The hosts had surprised all by holding Australia the day before. Pakistan easily went past them by four goals to one. That made them the joint leaders along with Australia, whom they next met. A close battle was expected but the Aussies pulverised Pakistan 8-1. It wasn’t only morale shattering but also put their place in the final in jeopardy. A win in the last match against Japan, the surprise package of the tournament, as well as a favourable result in the England/Australia tie was needed.

The Aussies, who had already qualified for the final, did Pakistan a favour by playing out a draw against England. With their fate in own hands, Pakistan faced Japan. They ran into an early two goals lead but the Japanese, requiring only a draw to qualify for the last two, made it 1-2 with plenty of time left. The suspense lasted till the last moment. With 10 seconds to go, Pakistan conceded a penalty corner for a completely foolish challenge. All watched with bated breath. The PC wasn’t converted and Pakistan were in the final. They faced the side who had given them a hiding just 48 hours back. But the boys in green appeared a different outfit and gave the Aussies a close fight, at least in the first half which ended 1-1. Australia were the better side for most of the second half and fully merited the 3-1 win.

Pakistan managed to break the six year old Sultan of Johor jinx by taking a place on the victory stand.

Tahir Zaman is hopeful for a good performance at the Junior World Cup.  Tahir, also the head coach at last year’s SOJC, tells the side was better prepared this time, stressing that "13 of these boys were at the SOJC last year as well. The difference was the international experience gained over this period. Pakistan appeared in the Junior Asia Cup and more importantly made two tours to Europe. We played just one match each against Germany, Netherlands and Belgium in the Hannover 4-Nation apart from a 3-test series in Spain. "Nevertheless, this little exposure against the quality opposition was useful. In addition, during the training camps, it was instilled into the players to strictly follow the game plan: individually as well as collectively. The boys stuck to the instructions most of the time and that paid dividends."

Tahir talked to TNS on various aspects. Here are some excerpts.

Areas showing real improvement:

"Physical fitness was better. That played a major role in Pakistan fighting till the end. Many a vital goals were scored in the last minutes.

Penalty corner conversion as well as the defence on the PCs was also encouraging. We were not dependent on a single drag flicker. Apart from Abu Bakr, Pakistan’s top scorer with four goals, Mubashar and Hassan Anwar also scored off direct attempts. In fact, everyone was surprised in the final when Hassan, who hadn’t had a PC strike in the entire tournament, beautifully converted the first set piece.

In today’s world of no offside rule, to cover the entire field, players’ off the ball movements and positioning are of immense importance. Boys showed good awareness most of the time."

Weak spheres:

"Inconsistency: Players didn’t carry out the specified roles all the time. This is a reflection of our unsatisfactory domestic circuit. Right from the early days, the boys are brought up on playing systems which bear little relevance to the modern hockey. They find it difficult to completely adapt to the requirements of international hockey. Old habits die hard."

What went wrong in the round robin tie against Australia?

"No excuses; we were outplayed. The boys were a bit over awed facing the strongest side in the fray. The early phase wasn’t bad as till the 34th minute, it was 1-2 and Pakistan was in the match. But the team lost the track in the latter part."

Must have been difficult to motivate them for the virtual semi-final vs Japan.

"Yes. However, before the tournament, we repeatedly told the boys to take it match by match: don’t think about the previous or the next game. They showed great resolve to beat Japan. In the final, our performance against the Australians was much better than that displayed in the round robin game."

Pakistan’s prospects at the Junior World Cup.

"In the 16 team competition, the first target is to qualify for the quarterfinals. Our poor ranking means we have two strong teams, Netherlands and Belgium in the pool.  Pakistan has to finish ahead of one of them to make it to the last eight. I believe we are capable to achieve that. In the knock out phase, it would depend on that day’s performance."

A good finish at the Junior World Cup could herald a new phase in Pakistan hockey. It will go a long way in restoring the long lost confidence of the hockey fraternity; also bring more patronage from the public and private sectors.