A HOME boost could well prove the tonic Pakistan need to make it back to the Olympics hockey tournament. Having failed to qualify for the 2016 Rio Games and the 2020 Tokyo Games — held a year later due to Covid-19 — Pakistan have been awarded the hosting of the Paris 2024 qualifying tournament. The tournament’s top three teams will seal their berth at the quadrennial global extravaganza and it effectively means that even if Pakistan fail to win the Asian Games, they will have a qualifying route. The Olympic qualifying tournament is the first tournament that Pakistan, ranked 16th globally, will host in nearly two decades — the last was the 2004 Champions Trophy. Pakistan’s head coach Rehan Butt has stressed the target is the Asian Games even though recent results haven’t been impressive. Pakistan finished seventh in last year’s Commonwealth Games and at the inaugural FIH Nations Cup but have been buoyed by the performance of their junior players who were runners-up at this year’s Under-23 Asia Cup. Next month, Pakistan are due to participate at the Asian Champions Trophy in India, with the Asian Games in China to follow in September. Some players who featured in the Under-23 Asia Cup, where Pakistan narrowly lost to India, have been included in the squad for the Asian Champions Trophy. The tournament is a chance to see where the national team stands ahead of the Asian Games, which offer a spot at the Olympics for the winner.

Having won the Olympic gold thrice, Pakistan were once hockey’s undisputed kings. But the sport has been in turmoil over the last decade, Dutchman Siegfried Aikman leaving his post as head coach only recently due to unpaid wages. Upon Pakistan being awarded the hosting of the Olympic qualifying tournament, the Pakistan Hockey Federation secretary expressed hope that it would boost the sport. Pakistan hockey fans want nothing more than to see the national team return to the Olympics.

Published in Dawn, July 17th, 2023