Pakistan, once the undisputed king of world hockey, has been achieving one dubious distinction after another. The most recent came at the just concluded Junior World Cup in the Indian city of Bhubaneswar. Pakistan finished 11th – their worst ever position in this competition.

For the followers of the game, it came as no surprise. National teams` performance, senior and junior, has shown a constant downward slide for the last many years.

Pakistan's World Ranking has fallen to 18th; 10th when the current PHF set-up took over.

Olympics: Pakistan failed to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.

World Cup 2018: PHF bragged, ‘Pakistan qualified after failing to do so at the previous edition.’ Pakistan’s qualification for the 2018 World Cup was entirely down to FIH’s decision to increase the number of participating teams from 12 to 16. How did Pakistan, the record four-time World Cup winners, fare at the 2018 World Cup? They finished 12th, thus equalling the worst ever finish; scored just two goals, their lowest World Cup tally; a goal difference of 10, also the worst.

Asian Games 2018: Pakistan ended 4th (equalling the worst ever position)

Failed to qualify for the Youth Olympics for the first time after finishing a miserable 6th at the qualifiers in 2018; also suffered a 1-12 defeat against Malaysia during these qualifiers.

Pakistan’s worst-ever defeat in international hockey: 1-9 loss to Australia, November 2017.

Worst ever defeat against India: 1-7 in June 2017 (Hockey World League, London) followed by another humiliation against the same team 1-6 in the same event, a few days later

In the last 10 matches against India, Pakistan has lost all barring one which was a draw.

And now, the worst position (11th) at the Junior World Cup.

Major Administrative Failures:

Withdrawing Pakistan team from the FIH Pro League just a couple of weeks before Pakistan`s first match in January 2019; also had to pay fine to the FIH

Pakistan couldn`t appear at the Junior World Cup in 2016 in India as PHF failed to submit visas of players in time Coming to the 2021 Junior World Cup, Pakistan failed to reach the quarter-finals after winning one and losing two pool matches. In the positional playoffs, they beat Poland and the USA and lost to South Africa. Two of the three wins came against the USA and Egypt, who later vied for the wooden spoon. Poland was the other team who lost to Pakistan. Poland was not among the original 16 teams for this Junior World Cup. Three strong teams, Australia, England and New Zealand, ranked 1st, 6th and 8th, had pulled out due to Covid related reasons. They were replaced by Poland, the USA and Canada.

Had Australia, England and New Zealand come to Bhubaneswar, Pakistan might have featured in the match for the wooden spoon.

PHF, as is its wont, has come out with all sorts of excuses. The PHF Secretary Asif Bajwa said, “Pakistan’s junior players had not been engaged in any international activity for the last eight years. This lack of experience was the cause of the poor show.”

A Wrong Statement. In 2016, Pakistan juniors were training in full earnest for the Junior World Cup. The team had toured Holland and Spain where they played matches against the national junior teams and also figured in an international junior tournament.

This was followed by the Sultan of Johor Cup in Malaysia in October/November; Pakistan lost to Australia in the final.

Then due to the negligence of the PHF, the visa process for the team couldn't get completed in time and Pakistan didn’t appear in the 2016 Junior World Cup held in India in December.

A Pakistan under 18 side was also raised that year with an eye on the next Junior World Cup. That side played a 4-match home series against Oman.

The team later featured in the under 18 Asia Cup held in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in September 2016. In April 2017, Pakistan Juniors participated in the Australian Junior National Championship. The next international assignment was the Asian qualifiers for the Youth Olympics in April 2018. Pakistan failed to qualify for the first time; also suffered a humiliating 1-12 defeat against Malaysia. A development squad toured Canada in June 2018; seven members later figured at the 2021 Junior World Cup. In 2019, Pakistan Juniors played a 4-match series against Oman under 21. All this time, many members of the 2021 Junior World Cup team had been appearing for the national (senior) side as well. Pakistan`s national team`s last international engagement was the Olympic qualifiers, the double-legged tie against Holland in October 2019. Four boys of the junior team in Bhubaneswar were members of that senior squad.

Hence, PHF`s lament that there was no international activity for Pakistan`s juniors over the last eight years has no grounds.

Since early 2020, due to Covid, there has been very little international hockey activity. Not only Pakistan, others also suffered.

Another PHF excuse: Some top teams in Bhubaneswar included players who played at the Tokyo Olympics where Pakistan had failed to qualify. Again, it was the PHF’s failure. In July 2017, Pakistan, despite its ranking of 13 at the time, had been selected in the FIH`s new flagship event, the nine-team Pro League. The first edition of the Pro League commenced in January 2019. PHF withdrew the Pakistan team a couple of weeks before, citing financial constraints. Participation in the Pro League would have earned Pakistan FIH ranking points even if they had finished last. With those ranking points, the then 13th ranked Pakistan could have leapfrogged the nations ranked above them not selected for the Pro League: Ireland, Canada and Korea. Thus, at the time of the Olympic Qualifiers, Pakistan might have reached the no 9 ranking in the world and probably played Ireland or Korea in the Olympic Qualifier. But after the withdrawal from the Pro League, Pakistan`s ranking went down further to 17. Hence, they faced the mighty Holland (world no 3) for the Olympic qualifier in November 2019 and as anticipated lost badly with an aggregate score of 5-10. Against Ireland or Korea, Pakistan stood a fair chance to win and thus qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.

In 2015, when Pakistan couldn`t qualify for the 2016 Olympics, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, in his capacity as the PHF`s Patron in Chief, replaced federation`s President Akhtar Rasool with incumbent Khalid Khokhar. Later, Khokhar got appointed Asif Bajwa as the secretary of the PHF. Bajwa had had an earlier stint at the post (2008-2013) and had been dismissed amid allegations of financial corruption and human smuggling.

Why doesn’t the PM replace the President and the Secretary of the PHF? In the same capacity vis-a-vis the PCB, he has already exercised this authority, not once but twice even though the PCB has been doing far better than the PHF all this time.