It was after a very long time that officials of the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) and the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) sat together at a function organised in connection with celebrating the Olympics Day in Lahore last week. The function was organized by the POA at its headquarters.

The speakers uttered nothing about the Olympic Movement and remained focus on Pakistan’s decline in hockey as it has failed to qualify for the first time in the Olympics being held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, this year.

Pakistan had already suffered a jolt when it failed to qualify for the first time the last hockey World Cup. PHF secretary Olympian Shahbaz Senior along with other Olympians like Manzoorul Hasan, Tahir Zaman, Khawaja Junaid, Salim Nazim, Naved Alam and many officials of other sports federations attended the function.

But not a single word was offered for the decline in other sports like football, volleyball, table tennis and badminton despite the fact that officials of these federations had also attended the function.

Both POA president retired Lt-Gen Arif Hasan and his secretary Khalid Mahmood were looking quite satisfied with a positive response by the PHF as far as its participation in the function was concerned.

In a fight between two groups of the POA which lasted almost four years from 2012 to 2016, the PHF remained rival of Arif Hasan. All hockey Olympians were agreed that the fight over the POA had caused an immense harm to sports in the country.

Shahbaz Senior concluded his speech with the hope that Pakistan would soon regain the lost glory in hockey. Some five to seven sportspersons from Pakistan, mainly on wild card entry, are to appear in the Rio Olympics and it will definitely be the thinnest contingent from Pakistan ever.

Surprisingly, the government has taken no step to revive sports in the country.

The first ever Five-a-Side Hockey Tournament organized by the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) is in its final stages at the National Hockey Stadium. All the matches were played under the floodlights. Though the event could not attract big crowd, some keen lovers of the sports have been watching and enjoying every match.

Three matches were held every day. The first match started immediately after the Taraveeh prayers while the last match ended late in the night. Overall, it was a good activity for players who will earn good money as cash prizes will be awarded to all six participating teams. The players also earned through match fee.

Six teams namely Lahore Lions, Karachi Sharks, Faisalabad Falcons, Islamabad Fighters, Peshawar Panthers and Quetta Warriors are competing in the event.

Islamabad Fighters and Quetta Warriors have qualified for the final, while Lahore Lions and Faisalabad Falcons will play the match for the third place.

A total cash prize of Rs2.5 million are at stake with the winning team will get Rs700,000 and the runners-up Rs600,000. The team at the bottom will also get a prize of Rs100,000. The PHF raised Rs20 million through sponsors for the event.

More such activities should be held to promote the game which is fast losing its popularity among the masses.

Ushna Suhail, a promising Pakistani tennis star, is currently in Egypt to compete in the International Tennis Federation championships.

The Lahore-born girl failed to earn any success in the doubles’ event, but in the singles she earned some achievement. In the doubles, pairing with Romanian player Christina Moroi, they lost the final against the strong pair of Romanian/Chinese Ana Bianca Mihala and Zhao Xio.

The Punjab Archery Association organized the first Punjab Archery Championships (both for men and women) in Lahore last week. Archery is a newly-introduced game in Pakistan but it is getting popularity. Lahore won its men’s event while Rawalpindi earned the women title.

It was a two-day event in which teams of Islamabad and Bahawalpur also participated.

For Lahore, players Zulfiqar Ali, Danish Abbas and Aamir Zaidi excelled to get gold medals, while for Rawalpindi, Aqsa Nawaz, Fauzia Mumtaz and Sara Shahzad played a key role in winning the top position.

Published in Dawn, June 26th, 2016