Last week was eventful due to three big events of FIFA World Cup, Hockey Champions Trophy and three-nation T20 cricket tournament.

Among these three big events, only Champions Trophy is over with yet another dismal show of Pakistan in Breda, Holland. Pakistan finished at the bottom in six-team event, raising serious concerns about its future, especially when the Asian Games (in August) and World Cup (in December), are round the corner. Pakistan lost its all matches except one against Olympic Champions Argentina. India, Australia (two finalists), Holland and Belgium all proved a hard nut to crack for the national hockey team. Australia beat India to win the Champions Trophy, which was its last episode, after it was introduced by Pakistan in 1978. From next year now, the league matches will be played in its place amid the members countries of the FIH (International Hockey Federation).

If the Pakistan team continues with these sluggish shows, the revival of the game does not look possible in near future. On the other hand, India is trying well to emerge as a power in the world of sports as investment of both the government and its private sectors are in billions of dollars there. But in Pakistan, the same old methods and people are being tested on the recommendation of powerful persons, without any comprehensive planning.

In cricket, however, Sarfraz Ahmad’s led Pakistan is showing good performance and it has reached the final of the three-nation T20 tournament in Harare, Zimbabwe, after beating the hosts twice, and losing and winning against the Aussies in two matches. The final is being played on Sunday. Later, Pakistan will stay in Harare to play a series of five One-day Internationals against Zimbabwe before returning back home in this month.

Overall, performance of Pakistan in all the departments was good. But the tour was fairly good for all-rounder Shoaib Malik who emerged as veteran of most T20 International matches of 102. He surpassed the record of Shahid Afridi who had played 99 T20 matches. When Shoaib played the second T20 against Zimbabwe he touched the figure of 100 matches. He had also emerged as third best run-scorer in this shortest format of the game with 2,039 runs in 102 matches. He is still behind New Zealand’s former captain Brendon McCullum (2,140 runs) and another Kiwi batsman Martin Guptill (2,271 runs).

The FIFA World Cup, the main event of the world of sports, is still in progress in Russia. France, Belgium and England have qualified for the semifinals. Giants like Brazil, Argentina, Germany and Mexico have made their exit, to the surprise of their fans as they all had the strong credentials to play the final.

The Sports Board Punjab could not decide the dates of any function to award cash prizes to the boxers who won gold, silver and bronze medals in its All-Punjab Inter-Division Boxing Championship held in May. Though the board had announced that it would honour all the medal winners soon after the Eidul Fitr, there is no news from the board in this regard yet. There are reports the board’s Director General Aamir Jan is not happy with the results of some bouts of that competition and he wants first to review the results of those bouts.

It is irony that in Pakistan, strong coaches, trainers and organisers have been involved in getting their athletes win by hook or crook due to flaws in the system. The national sports federations and the Pakistan Sports Board and its affiliated boards of four provinces have to equip themselves with modern technology to avoid injustice to the boxers.

Three hockey players from south Punjab, namely Abdul Mannan, Zaheer and Hassan Hameed, have been offered scholarships by the Dar Academy to stay at the academy’s hostel and to get training, free of cost. The three boys were selected after a trial match between FMC South Punjab and Dar Hockey Academy at the National Hockey Stadium. The entire team of FMC South Punjab consisted of south Punjab players. Though Dar Academy won the match against FMC 2-0 and earned a cash prize of Rs100,000, three players of south Punjab will remain in Lahore to hone their skills. All the 26 players of south Punjab and their four coaches were also awarded cash prizes of Rs5,000 each.

Published in Dawn, July 8th, 2018