Pakistan hockey in 2008 had all the ingredients of a hit. There was action, there was drama and suspense ... and yet it turned out to be a flop.

As is done every year now, 2008 too began with much talk of regaining our past glory. This year though held a slight edge over the previous ones as there were also the Olympics to look forward to.

Tall claims were made about going for gold this time around. With a lot of hype created for the 'final frontier' that was to be the Olympic Games, a number of matches lost in the months leading up to the extravaganza were brushed off as 'insignificant'. The common excuse heard each time was that the team was concentrating on winning at Beijing.

And so it became the Olympics or burst. As it turned out, what with so much turmoil within the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) where big changes carrying on from the end of 2007 continued till the Olympics, and even after, we burst.

But for the sake of chronology, let's first look at the events leading up to the moment of truth. The team was unsettled anyway when towards the end of 2007, Chief Selector Khawaja Zakauddin was given the responsibility of manager-cum-chief coach after the former manager and coach Olympian Islahuddin Siddiqui injured his foot during a training camp.

In February, the then PHF President Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali appointed former Olympian Naveed Alam as the national team's new coach while making the far more experienced Mohammad Shahbaz his deputy. Meanwhile, Islahuddin, after recovering from the injury, was given the job of chief selector.

Then several discarded players were brought into the squad once again. The federation compromised on the fact that there was a lack of talent all around and recalled Mohammad Waseem, known for giving preference to foreign leagues than playing for the country, and the rowdy centre-half Mohammad Saqlain. Of course, Waseem snubbed the PHF again.

For the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, they ignored the drag flick expert Imran Warsi but took him back for the Olympics. More reshuffling and experimentation saw junior squad members Shafqat Rasool, Mohammad Atif, Fareed Ahmed, Waqas Zafar and Zubair Ahmed making it to the senior side.

There was a major change at the top when the national team also got a new captain in Zeeshan Ashraf who took over from goalkeeper Salman Akbar.

In the juniors' squad, after disapproving of overage players, the selectors somersaulted by selecting players

such as the horse-in-a-colt's-clothing, Mohammad Atiq.

A busy schedule was drawn up. Talk about taking the bull by its horns. But in this case the bull was minnows China. The national team's first assignment was playing China itself, followed by Azlan Shah and more international encounters with Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium.

The five-Test match series with China in March, where Pakistan was looking for a clean sweep, turned out to be a fierce challenge even though Pakistan eventually won it 3-2.

On April 10, the PHF Congress met to revive its Executive Board. After the meeting, the state of the only stadium owned by the PHF, the Hockey Club of Pakistan (HCP), was also revealed. It was stripped off its international status after the FIH learned that it no longer boasted of a practice pitch and parking lot (FIH requirements); leave alone its dilapidated condition.

The 17th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup generated much drama, but not enough action. The new Chief Selector Islah announced that he hadn't a clue as to who selected the 33 probables for the seven-nation Malaysian tournament after which a fresh set was selected. We earned the third slot in Azlan Shah behind India as Argentina lifted the Cup. More drama unfolded when assistant Coach Mohammad Shahbaz decided to quit after being informed that he would not be accompanying the team for the European tour that was to follow Azlan Shah.

The May-June European tour saw Pakistan playing against Germany, France, Belgium and Ireland. We won just two, while drawing two and losing four matches among the eight fixtures.

In all, Pakistan played a total of 29 matches in 2008, won 11, drew four and lost 14.

Then just a month before the Olympics, the then Federal Minister for Sports Najamuddin Khan sacked PHF Secretary Khalid Mahmood without consulting the PHF President Jamali and replaced him with the much-younger Olympian Asif Bajwa.

Another row erupted when Jamali refused to accept Bajwa, terming the appointment as illegal while citing certain clauses in the constitution. Bajwa spent days going to work at the National Hockey Stadium in Lahore only to find the doors to his new office locked on Jamali's orders. Truce was finally declared when Jamali created a new post for Khalid Mahmood, making him the senior vice-president.

Soon after taking the secretary's post, Bajwa too started saying that he was hopeful of the team's reaching the podium at Beijing. And then the big day finally came, and went.

To be concluded