LAHORE: After failing to qualify for the 2023 World Cup, Pakistan’s senior hockey squad on Tuesday started preparations for their next assignment, the Commonwealth Games, being held in Birmingham from July 28 to Aug 8.

The players attended the first day of the training camp here at the National Hockey Stadium No.2 ground.

The camp started with many changes in the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) in the wake of Pakistan’s failure to qualify for the 2023 World Cup after they finished a poor fifth in this year’s Asia Cup held at the GBK Sports Complex in Jakarta in May-June. The continental event featured teams from eight countries.

Chief selector Manzoor Junior, after being given the new role of national junior team’s manager by the PHF in controversial circumstances, left the federation in protest while the former camp commandant/manager Khawaja Junaid stepped down after the Asia Cup.

In place of Manzoor, Olympian Kaleemullah, one of the selection committee members, was elevated to the position of chief selector while assistant coach Ajmal Lodhi was handed the designation of team manager.

Pakistan’s record in the Commonwealth Games hockey event is not impressive.

After hockey was included in the games in 1998, Pakistan were able to win bronze medal in 2002 at Manchester -- followed by silver in the 2006 edition staged at Melbourne.

For this year’s edition featuring teams from 10 hockey-playing nations, Pakistan are placed in pool ‘A’ alongside Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Scotland. Pool ‘B’ comprises India, England, Canada, Wales and Ghana.

AIKMAN JOINS CAMP

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Dutch hockey coach Siegfried Aikman has joined the national training camp after missing the Abbottabad conditioning camp which ended before Eid-ul-Azha.

Aikman, who missed the camp in Abbottabad due to visa-related problems, has come to the country with a working visa.

Though Pakistan have shown some improvement under Aikman, they are yet to win a title.

The Asia Cup was Aikman’s first assignment though he had joined the team in December 2021, just a few days before the Pakistan squad left for Bangladesh to participate in the Asian Champions Trophy.

Earlier this year, under his coaching Pakistan toured three European countries — Holland, Belgium and Spain. The green-shirts drew the two-test series 1-1 against both Holland and Spain while lost the one-off test against world champions Belgium.

Now a big challenge awaits Aikman and his team in Birmingham where a strong-looking Australia, who have superbly maintained their top position in all the six editions of the Commonwealth Games, will again be a major hurdle for all the participating teams like England, New Zealand, India and Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, July 13th, 2022