HOCKEY gold is close to the hearts of 180 million Pakistanis and if it comes at the expense of arch-rivals India it multiplies the joys. This is vise-versa. In an action-packed Asian Games hockey final in Incheon, India defeated title holders Pakistan 4-2 on penalty shootout after one-all stalemate in regulation time to recapture the crown after 16-years on Thursday.

The triumph earned India a direct passage to the 2016 Rio de Janerio summer Olympics while Pakistan will have to go through the agony of qualifiers.

The heat was intense after the two countries set a date for the Thursday’s title clash.

By virtue of victory, India also avenged its group match 1-2 defeat that they suffered at the hands of green-shirts on Sept 25.

This is not the first time that Pakistan will have to go through qualifiers in order to make it to the Olympics. Previously, they have featured in qualifiers twice at Osaka for the 2000 Sydney Olympics and at Madrid for Athens Olympics.

India’s track record of Asian Games hockey is appalling as compared to Pakistan. They have captured the title thrice – at Bangkok in 1966, again at Bangkok in 1998 and at Incheon in 2014.

Pakistan, on the other hand, has won the title eight times since 1958.

The Asian Games hockey competitions used to be a two-horse race until 1986 at Seoul when host South Korea annexed its maiden title after registering 2-1 victory over Pakistan. The Koreans emerged as a strong powerhouse posing a serious threat to Indo-Pakistan supremacy and went on to add three more gold to their tally at Hiroshima in 1994, at Busan in 2002 and at Doha in 2006.

Whenever Asian Games comes, it reminds Pakistan’s 7-1 thrashing to India at the 1982 New Delhi Asian Games hockey final before a hostile crowd.

The Indians had come to Incheon well prepared after going through practice in the Hockey India League under new format of four quarters whereas Pakistan’s preparation for the Asiad on new format seems to be lacking.

All said and done. Pakistan’s domestic hockey needs a revamp at the grassroots level to acquaint the youth of new rules which has snatched the glamour that was attached to the game in yesteryears.

Published in Dawn, October 3rd, 2014