Gone are the days when Asian hockey teams were the force to reckon with. In such a case, India winning the six-nation inaugural Asian Champions Trophy in a penalty shoot out, is a matter of pride and satisfaction for the country, especially, since they had lost to Pakistan in the Azlan Shah Cup in Malaysia just months ago. India had finished at the bottom of the six-nation Azlan Shah Cup while Pakistan was the sliver medalist.

The fact that Pakistan rested its three seasoned campaigners—goalkeeper Salman Akbar, penalty corner expert Sohail Abbas and attacker Rehan Butt met with a lot of criticism. But the performance of Team Pakistan, a blend of experienced and youth, was immensely satisfactory. Reaching the final, indeed, is a magnificent achievement and credit should be given to the Dutch coach, Michel Van den Heuvel.

The new-look Team Pakistan began its campaign on a confident note by winning the inaugural match against Malaysia followed by an expected victory over hosts China. However, Japan caused a major upset when they inflicted a defeat against Pakistan.Our defensive network was virtually run over by super-fit Japanese. The defeat cast doubts on Pakistan’s chances of reaching the final but the green shirts got their act together for an outstanding display by registering 3-2 success after a 2-2 draw.Pakistan played the last league encounter against India that ended in a 2-2 draw and both the countries again faced each for the final last Sunday.

The fight was tense, and both teams lost scoring opportunities during the scoreless 70-minute regulation time and even 15-minute extra time did not produce a goal. However, India lifted the trophy with a 4-2 victory against Pakistan in the penalty shoot out. Pakistan got no less than eight penalty corner opportunities but did not avail them. And even though Team Pakistan played a decent game on the whole, there’s a need to improve its scoring skills, defensive network and goalkeeping.Pakistan scored 13 goals and conceded 10 goals in five league matches and that is considered a low scoring rate that should be improved since scoring against top European teams would be far more testing.

Like Pakistan, India has also employed a foreign coach from Australia after its dismal performances and the players have indeed benefited under his coaching. Modern hockey is a different ball game and hiring foreign coaches will help prepare both the teams on the modern and scientific lines for next year’s Olympic Games.

Coach Heuvel is hired until the London Olympics and under his expert handling Pakistan is well on the road of rebuilding a formidable combination. Before London Olympics, Pakistan would be testing its strength and potential in this year Champions Trophy by the end of this year which has been shifted out of India to New Zealand. Pakistan also plans to tour Australia which will further help in addressing its shortcomings. The Champions Trophy will be a real test of Team Pakistan as it would be facing the world’s leading teams before the London Olympics, hardly 10 months away.