After a glorious and unexpected victory in Asian Games in 2010, Pakistan hockey has went back to the same old routine of losing consistently in the year 2011. The tall claims were made from the Pakistan Hockey Federation as usual and on-field performance of team remained equally ordinary. The focus on the Olympics 2012 remained the vocal point of the federation, mostly voiced by its secretary Asif Bajwa but the recent results in Champions Trophy proved it just an escape point as nothing has been improved yet and Olympics are eight months away. Federation is lucky that 2010 victory gave Pakistan team a berth in the London Olympics, otherwise it would be an uphill task for Greens Shirts even to qualify.
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The year 2011 started with differences among the senior players and the PHF over the prize money announced for the team for victory in the Asian Games. The PHF took stern stance against players and then also arranged some educational programmes for the players to deal with the media. The differences mostly when the federation blocked the way for the 30-plus players in the national hockey championship and was criticised by the ex-Olympians and especially from 2010 winning team captain Zeeshan Ashraf and goalkeeper Salman Akbar. The PHF denied the notion that they were trying to get rid of senior players and ironically kept the senior players in the squad minus Zeeshan. Salman also deprived of from central contract along with another senior Rehan Butt, who was the part of the team till Azlan Shah Cup, but later got a recall from the federation.
The next headache came from the Dutch Michel van den Heuvel, coach of national team, who refused to continue citing serious security fears, but an improved contract later helped allaying his “security fears” and agreed to coach Pakistan till Olympics. Pakistan constituted a new selection committee headed by former Olympians Hanif Khan and ex-Olympian Khalid Bashir and M Arshad Chaudhary as its members. The selection committee proved a massive failure. The federation’s plan seems to be playing it safe. The seniors are being rested after every tournament to avoid burnout before the 2012 Olympics. The juniors, kept in regular practice by their own busy calendar, take their place. Besides providing them exposure, this also gives the federation a chance to monitor their progress and get them up to speed to the international level.
Pakistan team preparations for Azlan Shah Cup faced a huge blow when their tour to Egypt cancelled due to the instable political situation and riots in Egypt while India also backed out from playing a series against Pakistan in Dubai. The national squad were to tour Egypt from February 22 and in response Pakistan was to host them in April. After receiving advice from the federal government, the PHF decided to postpone the tour and any further decision in this regard would be taken with the mutual consent of the Egyptian hockey authorities. The three-match series between the arch-rivals India, that was to be played in Dubai, had been initially delayed after a legal tussle between the India Hockey Federation and Hockey India over who will lead hockey in India, and then scrapped.
Unpredictably remained the feature of Pakistan nation and the national hockey side seems no exception of this. It’s hard to put money on Pakistan in just about any tournament, against any particular side, facing any task whatsoever.
The Green Shirts would go on and beat the top ranked team in their own backyard, like they did in the tri-series final by defeating Australia 4-3 to clinch the tournament despite losing to the same side with heavy margin in group match, or criminally lose out to a mundane opposition just as easily, like humiliating defeats at the hands of lowly-ranked France, Belgium and Japan sides. . They would build up expectations only to shatter them inexplicably and when you would give up all hope they would weave together a miracle when you least expect it. Pakistan hockey team has truly become a sporting enigma and a bizarre phenomenon.
A continuous slide can be witnessed in Pakistan hockey since its last victory of World Cup in 1994 that reached at its lowest ebb during the 12th place finish in 2010 World Cup in New Delhi and when the coffins were being prepared and the hockey side was being scathed at from all corners, Guangzhou happened! Not only was the Asian gold medal, completely out of the blue – especially after the ‘exploits’ in the World Cup – it also threatened to wipe away all the gloom that had begun to mask the team. The gold medal in the Asian Games was its first since Pakistan had won at a major tournament in 1994. So, it was construed that the team has finally turned the corner and would go on towards bigger and better things. That didn’t transpire, not exactly.
The nation again got excited. The players became national heroes once again and warmly welcomed on their return and many prizes were showered upon them, but the team kept every one guessing in 2011, a preceding year to the most prestigious event in the world of hockey, Olympics in London.
At the Azlan Shah Cup Pakistan were unlucky to finish as runners-up behind Australia. In Asian Champions Trophy, Pakistan reached final and were about to keep its reputation of winning inaugural tournaments but eventually succumbed to India on penalties after playing a goalless draw in extra time. In another inaugural tournament Super 9 series Pakistan just lost one match against Australia narrowly 3-2, but could not overpower New Zealand and India and draws against them deprived them of a place in the final and they settled for a third-place match against arch-rivals which they won convincingly to finish third. Then came again from nowhere another stunning victory in a build-up tournament of Champions Trophy against Australia. In the tri-nation series that involved Pakistan, India and Australia, Pakistan beat the world champs in the final to lift the trophy. Interestingly, Aussies thrashed them in the pool match 6-1. That raised the morale of the nation in general and Pakistan Hockey Federation in particular and usual tall claims were made but the hockey team did not let down its reputation of giving surprises by Pakistan finishing at disappointing seventh position in the event. They lose against all opponents including England, Spain, Australia and Germany in pool matches with heavy margins but destroyed South Korea in both, pool and classification matches, to avoid the wooden spoon. The only positivity of this year can be seen in the terms that Pakistan broke their jinx against Koreans as they won all the six matches against them in the year played between them. Pakistan also kept one more win edge over their arch-rivals India as they registered two wins over them and one defeat while four matches ended in a draw. But the defeat at the hands of India in the final of Asian Champions Trophy tilt the balance in favour of the Indian sides, as they won when it mattered most.
Earlier, Pakistan finished tour of Europe with a deep disappointment where they were hammered by almost all the European sides. Pakistan won the 4-nation tournament in Ireland but defeat at the hands of France marred this victory.
Then they finished last in the Four-Nation Robo Hockey Cup and then the Green Shirts played a 1-1 draw against minnows Belgium who thrashed them 4-1 in the second game. The situation doesn't stop there in the two matches against Holland as Pakistan managed to draw first game 1-1 but again they were beaten 2-1 in the second match of the series. At the end of the year, Pakistan got its frustration on China by mauling them in four-match friendship hockey series. China’s visit was of much significance as Chinese team were the first international hockey team to visit the troubled country that paved the way for international hockey return in the country and Argentina has already confirmed its participation in a proposed four-nation hockey tournament to be hosted by Pakistan before London Olympics.
The PHF also took some surprising steps in the year. Dropping seniors like Rehan Butt, Salman Akbar and Zeeshan Ashraf, then chief selector’s statement that Rehan’s career is over and PHF president Qasim Zia’s denial; depriving of Salman and Rehan from central contracts and then recall of Salman for Australia tour and above all change of captaincy just before the Australian tour when M Imran, who was captaining Pakistan for last eight months was replaced by Shakeel Abbasi citing his health problems. But then why federation kept Imran as a team member for the tour if he was not fully fit?
The fake smiles on the faces of federation’s top brass may give the impression that all is well in national hockey and things are perfectly under control but the reality is that the team has been once again split into groups. The seniors, the junior players and the troublemakers who continue to make an issue out of small things which eventually hurt the game and damage the country’s image all are in action and it was the main reason behind the Pakistan team’s seventh place finish in the Champions Trophy.
In between, there are also PHF’s bad decisions and failure in giving due respect to some of the seniors which they truly deserve. The national team, under Shakeel Abbasi’s leadership, played well in both the challenging events and achieved the unthinkable by beating world champions Australia on their own turf by 4-3 to win the Tri-Nation series on Nov 3. The team showed its true potential in the contest, hence raising hopes for their next outing — the Champions Trophy. In a strange move, however, Shakeel Abbasi who returned as the winning captain from the tough Aussie tour was replaced by fit-again Imran at the helm for the Champions Trophy. That created a stir and lead to groupings in the team.
Another crisis hit Pakistan hockey at the end of the year when eight players reportedly signed contracts with the unofficial World Series Hockey league in India. Former captain Zeeshan Ashraf and Adnan Maqsood are in India and former captain Rehan Butt, Shakeel Abbasi and Waseem Ahmed have also joined the league.
The PHF has threatened to impose five-year bans on players, who opt to play in the unsanctioned tournaments such as much-hyped World Series Hockey. The decision was taken at PHF's general council meeting, where it also decided that the federation would take legal action against former Olympians who are making allegations of corruption and misuse of power against PHF officials.
As a result, the PHF had issued legal notices to some 13 former Olympians asking them to apologize for or be prepared to be sued for Rs.500 million each. It may be mentioned that former Olympians have not only been openly criticizing the poor showing of Pakistan team in the media but they have been writing letters to Patron in chief, the Prime Minister of Pakistan and other relevant quarters requesting the removal of the present PHF office bearers. Some Olympians reportedly have accused PHF officials of being involved in human trafficking. The PHF and ex-Olympians are at loggerheads since long. Recently, the PHF used its political muscle y just before the Pakistan vs China hockey match to humiliate the PTV commentary team comprising of Olympian Islahuddin, Ayaz Mahmood and journalist Sardar Khan. Later, PHF president Qasim Zia apologised and said the federation was unaware of such any act. The PHF instead of focusing and improving the Pakistan team's performance that could have easily kept the critics quite, is now bent upon on opening new frontiers such as suing their opponents in the court of law. They should do so but not at the expense of PHF funds. According to some players, they are yet to receive a part of the prize money for winning the Asian Games gold medal.
The green shirts have won a record four World Cups, three Olympic gold medals, an equal number of Champions Trophy titles and Asia Cups along with eight Asian Games gold medals. But the former glories are not enough to keep the same level at international level without sincerity and passion. In London, the green shirts would be needing a great effort to finish on the podium as they are way behind powerhouses like Australia, Germany, Netherlands and Spain.
The national team’s performances during their recent international assignments in Europe were average: defence was found wanting, midfield missed a striker, the bench strength was poor and the team lacked aggressiveness, particularly the young forwards.
And above all, the green shirts failed to implement strategy in crucial games. Pakistan were up against oppositions of completely different strengths in both four-nation tournaments. European teams are much better than us in terms of standard and facilities. The federation has recently said that they were rethinking about the formation and preparations of Pakistan team for Olympics. But at the moment it will not be a wise move. The need is to stick with the same pool of the players till Olympics as the time for experimentation has passed so long. So if the federation wants some surprising miracle in the Olympics, it should give the confidence to the current squad and resolve the issues regarding groupings in the team. The future in the next Olympics looks gleam for Pakistan but one should not forget the element of surprise and unpredictably. Just hope for that miracle, as technically Pakistan in not in the podium race in any possible way.
Pakistan’s performance in 2011
Against World Rank M W D L GF GA
Australia 1 6 1 0 5 12 28
Germany 2 3 0 1 2 2 8
Netherlands 3 3 0 1 2 3 8
Great Britain 4 3 1 1 1 6 7
Spain 5 1 0 0 1 2 4
South Korea 4 6 6 0 0 18 10
New Zealand 7 3 1 1 1 9 7
India 10 7 2 4 1 16 13
Belgium 11 2 1 0 1 2 4
Malaysia 13 2 2 0 0 6 3
Japan 15 1 0 0 1 1 3
Ireland 16 3 3 0 0 7 4
China 17 7 7 0 0 24 9
France 18 1 0 0 1 2 4
Total 8 48 24 8 16 110 112
Pakistan Goal Scorers in 2011
Player Goals
Sohail Abbas 21
Shakeel Abbasi 14
Abdul Haseem Khan 12
Muhammad Imran 9
Waseem Ahmed 5
M Tousiq 5
M Waqas 5
Shafqat Rasool 5
Waqs Sharif 5
Player Goals
Rizwan Senior 4
Rehan Butt 4
M Irfan 3
Umar Bhutta 3
Muhammad Zubair 2
Muhammad Rizwan 2
Fareed Ahmed 2
Ali Shah 2
Kashif Shah Syed 1
Hockey Rankings
ERank Country Pts
1 Australia 2188
2 Germany 1988
3 Netherlands 1855
4 England 1662
5 Spain 1650
6 Korea 1490
7 New Zealand 1395
8 Pakistan 1315
9 Argentina 1292
10 India 1288
11 Belgium 1150
12 South Africa 1130
13 Malaysia 1119
14 Canada 1116
15 Japan 865
16 Ireland 839
17 China 830
18 France 751
19 Poland 729
20 Russia 661
