Rehan Butt celebrates with Shakeel Abbasi (l) and Waseem Ahmed (r) after scoring a goal in the BDO Champions Challenge Cup recently played in Salta, Argentina. -Photo courtesy FIH

If there was anything to cheer about in sports besides our triumph on the cricket field in the World T20, it was hockey's slow but steady progress towards the goal of regaining its lost glory.

Like excellent on-field team work, every pass was taken and pushed towards the net with sincere hope to achieve success.

Looking for a direct berth in the World Cup by winning the Asia Cup in May, the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) finally selected the confident 44-year-old former Olympian goalkeeper Shahid Ali Khan as chief coach. Secretary Asif Bajwa, too, took on an added responsibility as the national team's manager. This was announced by the federation President Qasim Zia at their Executive Board's meeting on Feb 13.

Having worked with different coaches in Malaysia for three years prior to this new responsibility, Shahid had earned enough experience to be able to aim high. And thus began the rebuilding of the Pakistan hockey team.

The 11 hockey academies, set up by the federation to train school children in the sport, also started work from the beginning of the year. For this they hired a Dutch consultant, Wouter Tazelaar, on a two-year contract to prepare the syllabus and courses for the academy coaches.

Meanwhile, Pakistan were scheduled to play in a quadrangular hockey series in Chandigarh and Jalandhar, India, in January but were disallowed by the Federal Ministry of Sports.

The PHF then prepared to welcome the Malaysian hockey team to Pakistan in the second week of February, but the tour could not materialise when Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) turned down their invitation citing internal problems. So Pakistan entered the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Malaysia without much practice.

With the Junior World Cup (June, Singapore) also looming, the PHF replaced team coach Qamar Ibrahim with Khwaja Mohammad Junaid while Danish Kaleem and Ahmad Alam remained on the posts of assistant coaches. A busy programme was charted out for the colts with tournaments in Malaysia, Egypt and Germany before the big event.

The five-nation Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Malaysia in April saw Zeeshan Ashraf being named captain of the national squad. The team finished fourth in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup.

Stepping out of retirement, Sohail Abbas reported back to the Pakistan side for the Asia Cup along with the other three seniors Waseem Ahmed, Rehan Butt and goalkeeper Salman Akbar, who playing in foreign leagues were all in good practice.

Talented junior players Shafqat Rasool and Fareed Ahmed were upgraded to the senior squad and a fine blend of experience and youth in the form of some new players, including the 19-year-old centre-forward Haseem Khan, helped the team perform beyond expectations in the Asia Cup. However, despite reaching the final, they lost to South Korea 0-1 in a close game. The loss led to Pakistan being asked to play in the World Cup qualifiers later in the year.

On the other hand, the juniors reached the final of the four-nation Invitational Junior Hockey Tournament in Malaysia but lost to India in a key game. Their next assignment was in Egypt for the Five-nation Junior Hockey Tournament, which was won in style by the green shirts.

Next up was the Junior World Cup. For it Shafqat Rasool, after playing with the national team in the Asia Cup, was sent back to the junior side. But the team ended up fifth in the mega event.

This was also the time when the PHF withdrew Islahuddin Siddiqui's name from the Rules Board and Col Mudassar Asghar's from the Competition Committee while nominating five other individuals, namely, Hasan Sardar for the Athletes Committee, Rana Mujahid for the Rule Board in place of Islah, Asif Bajwa for the Competition Committee in place of Mudassar, Shahbaz Sr for the Development and Coaching Committee, Pervaiz Bhindara for the Marketing Committee of the International Hockey Federation (FIH).

Meanwhile, Pakistan also lost the seat in the Rules Board as FIH picked former Indian captain Pargat Singh instead of the new nominee Rana Mujahid.

A big controversy rocked national hockey when former coach Naveed Alam and former goalkeeper Mansoor Ahmad accused PHF Secretary Asif Bajwa for tarnishing the game's image and for his alleged involvement in all kinds of scandals including smuggling individuals to foreign countries.

While Naveed unsuccessfully tried to hide behind the controversies to save his skin in a funds row during the tour of Europe, Mansoor blamed Bajwa for involving him in unlawful activities that earned him a criminal record. The hue and cry raised also prompted the NA Standing Committee on Sports to summon the PHF secretary to explain his side, which he did while clearing his name.

For making false accusations, both Naveed and Mansoor were finally banned from hockey activities for life by President Qasim Zia at the PHF's Executive Board meeting.

A short series in England saw Pakistan replacing Kamran Ashraf with Shahbaz Jr as the assistant coach after the former wasn't being able to do full justice to the job. The series was won by the green shirts 2-0 by winning two matches and drawing the third.

Former captain Mohammad Saqlain was asked by PHF to retire from the game and accept a junior team coaching job. The federation had also planned a retirement party in Saqlain's honour at the National Hockey Stadium in Lahore, but the maverick player chose to go to the press to blast federation's Secretary Asif Bajwa for creating the ugly scenario.

The federation then decided to take back its generous offer and issued Saqlain a show-cause notice.

In another notable development, midfielder Tariq Aziz had to be sent home from the national hockey camp amid suspicions of doping after the injured player admitted taking certain painkillers on his own in order to hide his injury from the coach and selectors.

Preparations for the qualifiers also resulted in the PHF's postponing the inaugural Asian Champions Trophy that was to be played in Pakistan around the time the team had to go play in the qualifiers.

Also the PHF brought in a third coach Olympian Shafqat Malik to work with Shahbaz Jr under Chief Coach Shahid Ali Khan. With no team wanting to play here, the PHF kept the boys busy in several domestic events throughout the year in Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi.

In a significant development, FIH President Leonardo Negre visited Pakistan in October to show his support in promoting hockey in Asia, especially in Pakistan.

In order to get the green shirts into more practice before the World Cup qualifiers, the federation planned a tour of Europe comprising Tests in France, Poland and Belgium, which couldn't happen when the national team failed to get Schengen visas on time. The team eventually flew straight to Lille, France, on Oct 25, for the qualifiers without much practice. Thankfully they won the qualifiers on Nov 8 by beating Japan 3-1 to make it to next year's World Cup.

More reason to cheer appeared in the form of the colts, comprising mostly of boys picked from the Super League in September, coming home from Yangon, Myanmar, with the AHF U-18 Junior Asia Cup title.

The success in the qualifiers saw the nation associating too many hopes with the national team for its next assignment the Champion's Challenge Cup-I, another qualifier but for the 2010 Champions Trophy, an event that Pakistan started but hasn't been able to play in due to its bad show at other events throughout the year. But although Pakistan made it to the final of the event played in Salta, Argentina, in December, they lost to New Zealand by 1-3 to sit out the third Champion's Trophy in a row.

While the team awaits its next all-important assignment, the Hockey World Cup in India in Feb-March 2010, the fans and critics keep their fingers crossed in hope of the game's revival.