The Dar Hockey Academy achieved yet another feat as Asian Hockey Federation’s (AHF) Raja Ashman Shah Hockey Academy invited it to its headquarters in Malaysia to play some matches against it from Nov 21 to 30.

Mentor of Dar Hockey Academy, Olympian Tauqeer Dar, said the academy was doing well and playing a key role in providing quality players to Pakistan, and the invitation by AHF was an honour for the academy.

The Dar family is familiar in the field of hockey as Tauqeer’s father Munir Dar and uncle Tanveer Dar and himself have been part of the national team at various times when the team won gold medals at the Olympics in 1960 (Munir), 1968 (Tanvir) and 1986 (Tauqeer). And now the family is training players for the national team without any financial benefits from the government.

Currently, the Pakistan team, which is in Malaysia to defend the Asian Champions Trophy title from Oct 20, has three key players produced by the Dar academy: goalkeeper Imran Butt, forward Arsalan Qadir and Aleem Bilal.

In the U-18 team, there are four players from the Dar academy: Adeel Ahmad, goalkeeper Waqar Ahmad, Ali Aziz and Waqas Ahmad.

In the U-21 team, three players, including Bilal Qadir, Sohail Ahmad and Rizwan Ahmad. Had some more Olympians followed the Dar family, Pakistan would not have seen such a huge decline in this national sport, which in its heyday had earned more than 60 gold, silver and bronze medals.

Tauqeer Dar said a lot more remains to be done to improve the standards of the game in Pakistan. The boys need more Astroturf pitches to get standardised coaching on perfect surfaces, Astroturf at the National Hockey Stadium should be laid down immediately, the government should form a strict policy binding managements of public and private schools to lay down sports infrastructure.

He further said 70pc of the medals that the US earned in the last Olympics were won by athletes who were still students. The corporate sector should also come forward to sponsor sports bodies.

Next week, the Pakistan Army is holding the first Physical Agility and Combat Efficiency System (PACES) Championship in Lahore from Oct 18 to 23. Sixteen countries will compete in the event. Contingents from China, Sri Lanka, Jordan, Malaysia and Maldives have already arrived. The events to be contested in this gala include push-ups, chin-ups, sit-ups and combat efficiency test.

An Australian army cricket team is also touring Lahore from Oct 19 to play friendly matches against the Pakistan Army, a team of the Pakistan Cricket Board and Lahore police at various grounds. Around 370 soldiers and officers from armies of different countries are set to feature in the PACES event.

A successful PACES championship will convey a positive message to the world that Pakistan is a safe place for sports. Many countries are reluctant to send their teams to Pakistan on security grounds due to which the country’s sports are declining.

The Sports Board Punjab is yet to open its international standard swimming pool and tennis stadium built in the Nishtar Sports Complex for players. Both projects had been completed after a considerable delay of six years. But the board was yet to announce an exact date to inaugurate the facilities.

Both the projects had been started by former chief minister Pervaiz Elahi, but in the initial stages only the tenure of his government ended bringing in Shahbaz Sharif at the helm in the province. These projects had to be built in just two years, but were still not functional.

Though in the past, the sports board had given many dates for their inauguration, but failed to inaugurate them.

Agathering of junior tennis players is likely next week, as the Punjab Lawn Tennis Association is holding the first Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited National Junior Tennis Ranking Tournament at its own courts in the Bagh-i-Jinnah.

Like other sports, tennis is also on a decline but such tournaments will be helpful in spotting talent to be groomed for the future.

Published in Dawn, October 16th, 2016