Once the dominating forces in international hockey, both Pakistan and India now take a back seat for this tournament as South Korea emerges as the leading hockey nation in Asia. As for Pakistan, finishing sixth in the 2006 World Cup in Mönchengladbach, Germany, eighth in 2008 Beijing Olympics, followed by an ouster from the six-nation prestigious Champions Trophy after a failure in the Champions Challenge Cup, leave no hope, especially when put up against world leading teams such as defending champions Germany, Australia, Spain and the Netherlands. According to media reports Germany, the Beijing Olympic gold medallists, are aiming for a winning hat-trick but Australia, who had defeated Germany in the Champions Trophy in Melbourne in December, is also tipped as a strong contender for the Cup, after having won it in 1986.

In Delhi, Pakistan is competing as a qualifier in the World Cup after winning the six-nation qualifying round in France. Japan, Poland, France, Russia and Italy were the other competing nations. Apart from qualifying rounds, unfortunately, for the past 15 years we have failed to win a single major tournament after lifting the Sydney World Cup and Lahore Champions Trophy in 1994, both of which were won when the PHF hired services of the Dutch coach, Hans Jorritsma.

What the nation fails to understand is the poor management of the PHF despite the flow of funds from the government. Only recently, Prime Minster Yousuf Raza Gilani, who is the patron-in chief of the PHF, announced one crore rupees for the Delhi-bound team as well as rupees five lacs for penalty corner expert Sohail Abbas — world record-holder for 306 goals — when the team met him along with the PHF President, Qasim Zia and other officials a day before its departure for New Delhi by road. This announcement can be a great incentive for the team to give an outstanding performance in Delhi, but impartial observers of the game are not keeping their hopes up, as the selected squad lacks the quality and skill required to overcome strong challenges in the Indian capital.

The 18-member squad, under the captaincy of experienced fullback Zeeshan Ashraf, includes six seasoned campaigners — Rehan Butt, Sohail Abbas, Waseem Ahmed, Shakeel Abbasi, Akhtar Ali and goalkeeper Salman Akbar — besides promising players such as Abdul Haseem Khan, Omer Bhutta, Mohammad Zubair and keeper Nasir Ali.

Even the team management, including coach Shahid Ali Khan and PHF secretary Asif Bajwa, who is also the manager, did not make any tall claims for winning the World Cup.

In the tournament, two top teams from each pool will qualify for semi finals. While Pool B includes Pakistan, Australia, Spain, England, India and South Africa, Pool A consists of Germany, the Netherlands, South Korea, New Zealand, Argentina and Canada. To qualify for the semi finals, Pakistan will need three victories and by the time this article is published, the team would already have played against India, Beijing Olympic silver medallists Spain and England and only God knows how they would fare.

For now, Australia and Spain from Pool B and Germany and the Netherlands or Asian Games champions South Korea are termed favourites for the semi final berth.

Pakistan's previous attempts in 1998 (fifth) 2002 (fifth) and 2006 (sixth) turned out highly disappointing and whether we would improve our placing or be relegated further will be known on March 13, when the tournament concludes.