At least eight to ten players who featured in the Pakistan hockey teams that clinched back-to-back silver medals in the 2014 Asian Games and Champions Trophy were also part of the this year’s outfits which finished seventh in the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games and later at the bottom in Breda Champions Trophy, a fact that clearly shows how the standard of Pakistan hockey has further declined in the past four years.

The greenshirts were ranked 11th, just two ranks below arch-rivals India, as per International Hockey Federation (FIH) rankings released on June 16, 2014 before capturing the two silver medals.

Title holders Pakistan went down 2-4 to India in the shootout after one-all stalemate in the regulation time at the Incheon Asian Games final on Oct 2 as the latter ended 16-year Asian Games gold medal jinx.

However, the greenshirts managed to overcome India 4-3 in the Champions Trophy semi-final in Bhubaneswar before losing 0-2 to Germany in the final showdown on Dec 14. Thus Pakistan’s two medals came within a span of 73-days.

It is significant to note that both the silver-medal winning Pakistan teams were managed by the former Olympian Shahnaz Sheikh.

Dutch expert Roelant Oltmans, the national team’s current coach, was associated with the Indian hockey team as director high performance during the 2014 Asiad and as chief coach at the Champions Trophy.

Earlier, statistics show Pakistan jumped four places to attain fifth spot in the FIH rankings after securing bronze in the Melbourne Champions Trophy in 2012 with India trailing at 11th position. Pakistan had defeated India 3-2 in the playoff to seize a bronze medal. At that time too, there was no foreign coach associated with Pakistan team.

However, the last six years have witnessed Pakistan’s alarming slide — from 5th to 13th — in international rankings while India has climbed up to fifth position. India’s resurgence is mainly due to a number of effective hockey academies across the country in Chandigarh, Amritsar, Delhi, Mumbai, Lucknow and Bangalore to name a few.

If the recent results are a barometer, one can say that it won’t be easy task for the greenshirts to return with flying colours in the Asian Games as India bid to stretch its run. Malaysia, South Korea and Japan can also pull-off a surprise.

Besides, the PHF’s financial constraints and inordinate delay in clearing the players’ dues has rubbed salt to the wounds and have demoralised players. People who follow the game alleged that this has occurred due to PHF’s bad planning and hiring a number of foreign coaches.

However, the fraternity of the game is keeping its fingers crossed.

Players who were part of 2014 Asian Games are Imran Butt, Mohammad Irfan, Fareed Ahmed, Rashid Mehmood, Umar Bhutta, Shafqat Rasool, M. Rizwan Sr, Mohammad Tousiq, M. Dilber and Mohammad Rizwan.

The players who were common in the 2014 Champions Trophy as well as the 2018 Commonwealth Games are Im­ran Butt, Mohammad Rizwan Sr, Mohammad Tousiq, Ras­hid Mahmood, Fareed Ahmed, Shafqat Rasool, Ali Shan, Mohammad Ateeq, Muhammad Irfan and Arsalan Qadir.

Published in Dawn, August 2nd, 2018