Earlier due to the refusal of foreign teams to tour Pakistan for security reasons, international hockey remained suspended for a considerably long time. However, the Dutch coach Michel van den Heuvel who had earlier announced his availability is scheduled to arrive in Lahore this week.

Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) president Qasim Zia has confirmed the visit of the Dutch coach and that issues relating to the security arrangements and other matters will be discussed.

The 10-team national championship touted as a major event on the PHF 2011 domestic calendar would see seasoned players as well as promising youth in action. It would also provide a great opportunity for the FIH master coach Heuvel to further asses the potential of the players in raising a formidable combination with a keen eye on the 1012 London Olympics.

Pakistan's next target is to reclaim the Olympic gold which we had last won 36 years ago in 1984 in Los Angeles. For more than three decades we have miserably failed to win back the Olympic gold as our competitive standard has registered a steep decline. In the 2008 Beijing Olympics, we ranked eighth.

Heuvel, who trained and coached the Pakistan team to regain the Asian Games title last November in China after a lapse of 20 years, returned home to join his family and hence was unable to attend the Islamabad event held in honour of the victorious team. This led to speculations and rumours in the media about the Dutch coach discontinuing his coaching assignment because of security concerns which were quite valid, but the PHF later assured him of high level security arrangements.

When Heuvel took over his coaching assignment last June, the PHF successfully achieved their first target of recapturing the Asian Games under the expertise of the Dutch coach whose contract is valid till the 2012 Olympics. The Asian Games hockey gold brought Pakistan a direct entry into the 12-nation London Olympics to be held next year.

As the nation rejoiced in the Asian Games victory, the Dutch coach’s endeavours was lauded for grooming Pakistan into a fit team ready to overcome the challenges in Guangzhou.

According to a PHF announcement, the Malaysian and Chinese teams will be touring Pakistan for which schedules are being discussed. Also a Pakistan-India series will be played in Dubai and a home and away series between Pakistan and India is in the pipeline. However, chances for resuming the home and away series look bleak because of dodgy political conditions between the two neighbouring countries.

The forthcoming visits of the Malaysian and Chinese teams have assumed special significance irrespective of victory and defeat. The Malaysia-Pakistan hockey relations became strained due to a misunderstanding when Pakistan played a  draw against Japan in the 2006 Doha Asian Games resulting in Malaysia's ouster from entering the semifinals.

Malaysia was in favour of Pakistan's victory over Japan in the last group match but the draw helped Japan qualify for the semifinals while Malaysia was out of the semifinals race. In the play-off for the third position, Pakistan beat Japan 4-2 after suffering a humiliating 1-2 defeat against China in the semifinal.

No Pakistani official got elected in the Asian Hockey Federation's 2006 election although former PHF secretary Brigadier (Retd) Mussaratullah Khan was voted as AHF vice president in the 2002 election. In the past late Syed Iqtidar Ali Shah Dara had been the AHF president while late Brigadier (Retd) M.H Atif held the post of the secretary.

Qasim Zia, who attended the congress meeting of Asian Hockey Federation at Kuala Lumpur along with federation secretary Asif Bajwa, took the initiative to end the misunderstanding with the higher ups of the Malaysian Hockey Federation. Azlan Shah being the president of both the AHF as well as MHF. Qasim Zia was elected as vice president and PHF secretary while Asif Bajwa was elected in the executive board. Malaysia gave a memorable performance by reaching the 2010 Asian Games final for the first time and is an emerging force in Asian hockey.

The upcoming series is expected to produce some exciting hockey.

The Chinese tour may be equally contesting and absorbing as China had beaten Pakistan 2-1 in the 2006 Doha Asian Games semifinals. China also made history by qualifying for the final and won their first-ever silver medals as they were beaten by South Korea by 1-3 in Doha Games.

Let us hope that the forthcoming series in Pakistan would help other leading hockey nations particularly from Europe to undertake the tour for which VVIP security would be provided by the hosts.