WITH some meaningful medals in Hockey, the world title in snooker, resumption of cricketing ties with India and some progress on bringing back international cricket to Pakistan, the year 2012 was clearly a year that marked a revival of sorts in the sports arena. All was not hunky-dory though.

At the Olympics, the national contingent comprised the Pakistan hockey team, athletes Liaquat Ali and Rabia Ashiq, swimmers Israr Hussain and Anum Bandey, and skeet shooter Khurram Inam. All, save the hockey squad, were wildcard entries. And none, including the hockey team, made a mark at the Games, which was a reflection on the performance of not just the last year, but also on what the nation has been doing over the preceding four years.

Hockey did make some amends after the Games, as the team clinched two back-to-back Bronze medals, including the Champions Trophy where Pakistan finished among the top three after eight barren years. The arguments that Pakistan had a few seniors in the side while the rest of the leading nations were in rebuilding phase after the Olympics did hold weight, but a Bronze, after all, is a Bronze.

In Football, the ball was passed from here to there in midfield without even moving towards the box; leave alone the goal. The same old stories about trying to get somewhere in international football kept cropping up, but the main focus was on showing countrywide football activity in order to keep the inflows intact from regional and international bodies.

Thus the year started with all the country’s football talent playing in the Pakistan Premier Football League (PPFL) 2011-12, and ended with the same bunch straining its limbs yet again in its 2012-13 edition.

In between there were some friendly matches in Palestine, Bahrain and Thailand with club teams. The Under-23 team became the national side, but couldn’t achieve much due to its lack of exposure. Still the foreign coach, Zavisa Milosavljevic of Serbia, hasn’t given up on the boys, most of whom are borrowed foreign players of Pakistani descent, despite their getting thrashed by Singapore 0-4 in their first proper international outing in the year. A month later, the U-23 team managed to reach the final of the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Football Cup in Sri Lanka, but lost to Maldives 1-2.

In Squash, Maria Toor Pakay, Pakistan’s top female squash player, started the year by winning the Liberty Bell Squash Championship in the US. Later in May, she became the first Pakistani woman to qualify for the main rounds of the British Open; though she lost didn’t go beyond the first round.

Also in May, the Pakistan squash team successfully defended their title by beating India in the 16th Asian Senior Squash Team Championship in Kuwait. A bit of the old spark was also witnessed when Pakistan’s Asim Khan won the Under-19 title in the sixth DG Rangers Sindh International Junior Squash Championship by beating Malaysia’s Mohammad Amir Farhan bin Impandir in October.

On the Tennis circuit, Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi, who couldn’t qualify for the Olympics earlier, saw things picking up for him towards the end of the year by reaching the final of the Paris Masters with his new partner, the Dutch Jean-Julien Rojer.

It was in Snooker, of course, that Pakistan made its biggest mark during 2012. It was a moment of pride when the World Snooker crown returned to Pakistan after 18 years; all thanks to Mohammad Asif who won the World Amateur Snooker Championship by defeating Gary Wilson in December. It was a true fairytale ending for the player and the nation alike.

Any discussion on sports in Pakistan cannot be over without Cricket. For many, in fact, it starts and ends with it. Though the team lost in the semi-finals of the World T20, the baby steps taken for the return of international cricket to the country made more headlines than anything the team did on the field. Karachi hosted two friendly T20 matches between the International World XI team and the Pakistan All Stars XI in October. But it was possible only after the visits of British Universities Charity XI team, the British XI Army team and former ICC chief Haroon Lorgat in connection with his possible consultancy regarding the Pakistan Twenty20 League.

It is too early to say if the Bangladeshis will actually undertake their promised tour of Pakistan, but, for once, the PCB seems to have played its cards well.

The writer is a member of staff.