Hockey’s Olympic challenge
-Photo by AP
THE departure of our hockey team to London for the upcoming Olympics last week did not create much hype in the media or among sporting circles for obvious reasons. Hockey, despite being our national sport, has plummeted to a level where neither the critics nor the fans want to pin any false hopes on a team which sharply contrasts with the superstars of the glory days of the past. Although captain Sohail Abbas and coach Akhtar Rasool have expressed confidence about the team reaching the podium at the mega event, the team’s poor faring in a number of major tournaments including this year’s Azlan Shah Cup belies their claims. In fact, the greenshirts’ rare victory in last year’s Asian Games, which also earned them a berth at the Olympics, was their first major title in nearly 20 years. The performance of the national team at the Olympics is also in doubt as it has had very little opportunity to practise on the blue turf that will be the standard surface at the London Games.
In a bid to strengthen the squad, the Pakistan Hockey Federation had to eat humble pie and recall senior pros Rehan Butt, Shakeel Abbasi, Mohammad Imran and Waseem Ahmed for the Games after the quartet was penalised for joining a rebel hockey league in India. Whether the move pays off remains to be seen because the 10-day camp at home and a handful of warm-ups is far from the ideal preparation required for the challenging 12-team hockey competition that begins in London on July 30. To put it in a nutshell, the team’s skill and talent will be on trial at the Olympics, especially against nations such as Holland, Germany, Australia and Spain who have so ruthlessly dominated the game since the advent of astro-turf some three decades ago.
Perhaps the writer forgot the 1994 world cup title when saying "first title in 20 years", there have been more successes other than that during the last 18 years
I think Astroturf is made for Indian and paksitan players to showcase the skill. What thay lack is physical demands. I think federation can straighten their acts in both India and Pakistan thehy will do well. If I was incharge I would have India and Pakistan train togeather to get better. Unfortunately federations are controlled politically to make this kind interaction possible. I would like to see the teams from u-16 playing against each other so that they get over the rivalry mentallity and become better by learning from each other
its a waste of time and hope for some miracle from the green shirts is foolness. my sugesions for the phf is after the london debacle they should drop all the aging players from the squad and prepare a full young side not over 19years. then they hire coaches from foriegn countries. it could be much better if they pick players from under 16 and then train them under the foriegn coaches.then we can hope some thing other wise shame shame and shame will follow the whole nation like today. but this is not going to be done am sure because phf is full of shameless people. all the people who are runing the phf should sent to the jail for shaming the nation. they are just making money and fooling whole nation. only supreme court of pakistan can save the hockey team. the supreme court should dismiss the whole phf management and apoint former hockey players who can run phf and save the nation from shame.
will there in River-back arena stadium, London to back up the team on 1st August against Argentina. Underdog's can do some upsets I hope.
Physical fitness, stamina of Australian & European teams is over powering, both countries,Pakistan & India woefully lack.Pakistan might finish one notch above the bottom.
India and Pakistan should mutually agree to ditch the astro turf and get back to grass surface – it would be the best thing for hockey in both the countries. All others will have to follow suit as the due will have the strongest financial muscle in hockey.
it should have been done at the time of introduction of astroturf now it is difficult. india pak does not have big say in hockey like in cricket. we are not muscle in this game