KARACHI, 2 May 2008 — If there ever were a reward for exuding optimism in the midst of doom and gloom it could have gone to Pakistan’s hockey administrators, uncontested.
With less than four months to go before the 2008 Olympic Games swing into action in Beijing, Pakistan do not seem to have much chance of winning a hockey medal, let alone the title.
They have been faltering miserably in international competitions, their coaches are being changed at the whims and fancies of top Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) officials and their hopes of regaining the Olympic crown have touched rock bottom.
The Greenshirts are even out of this summer’s Champions Trophy to be played in Holland that would provide the leading contenders for the Olympic title a platform to warm up for Beijing. Pakistan, who take pride in the fact that they initiated the Champions Trophy in the early ‘80s were unable to make the cut for the 2008 edition after failing to finish among the top five in the last December’s contest held in Malaysia.
More recently, Pakistan inducted five rookies in the national squad for two pre-Olympic assignments and team officials have indicated that most of those youngsters could be drafted in the 16-man touring party for the Beijing Games in August. The fact that these rookies have been a part of what is quite an under-performing national junior team makes it crystal clear that all’s not well in Pakistan hockey.
The writing is on the wall but it seems that the only ones blind enough to oversee it are the national hockey officials.
“We’ve had our low points but things are getting back on track,” Khawaja Zakauddin, Pakistan’s head coach told Arab News. “We have a couple of important tours coming up before the Olympics and I’m very hopeful that our team would go to Beijing well-prepared,” added the former Olympian.
Pakistan have announced an 18-man squad for the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup and a tour of Europe. Seasoned defender Zeeshan Ashraf was retained as captain as the national selectors opted to induct five junior team players -- Muhammad Atiq, Muhammad Irfan, Farid Ahmad, Muhammad Zubair and Shafqat Rasool — in the squad.
Zaka defended the decision of injecting new blood in the squad so close to the Olympics saying that the youngsters could breathe a new life in the team.
“These young boys are very good and can be a big plus point for us in the Olympics,” he said.
But the colts’ recent track record is not very reassuring. They’ve been a regular part of the national junior team that has been unable to impress much in recent outings.
But Zaka and company are banking on the greenhorns.
The coach is also of the view that Pakistan will not miss not being part of the Champions Trophy as the PHF has managed to line up sufficient matches ‘against top teams’ for the national team in the lead up to the Beijing Games.
“We would have suffered had there been no international games for our team before the Olympics,” said zaka. “But now we have the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, a series of Test matches against top European countries and a four-nation tournament in Ireland before the Olympics.”
Zaka termed the SAS Cup to be played from May 8-18 in Ipoh (Malaysia) as an event which is quite at par with the Champions Trophy. But the team lineup for this year’s event suggests otherwise.
Top flight teams like world champions Germany, Olympic champions Australia, Holland and Spain have decided to skip the event. Pakistan will instead be locking horns with hosts Malaysia, India, New Zealand, Argentina, Belgium and Canada in the tournament. In contrast, the Champions Trophy will have in its cast all the big guns of world hockey.
Pakistan will arrive in Germany on May 19 for a test series that will be followed by similar assignments against France and Belgium. The European sojourn will conclude with the Irish quadrangular.
The Irish Hockey Association is hosting the Setanta Sport Trophy in Dublin from 11-15 June. In the men’s competition, Pakistan will compete with Great Britain Canada and hosts Ireland.