LAHORE: For the second successive year, Pakistan has not been invited to participate at the Azlan Shah Hockey Cup.Hosts Malaysia will compete with Australia, Argen­tina, England, India and Ireland at the tournament which will be held from March 3 to 10.

The snub is an indication of how low Pakistan hockey has fallen in recent years as last year Malaysia preferred to include England over Pakistan to aid its preparations for the World Hockey League.

Malaysia has invited countries who are in the top 10 of the FIH rankings and is itself ranked 12th, a place above Pakistan.

Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF), meanwhile, has set other priorities with no focus on the national team’s performance at the Commonwealth Games and the World Cup later this year.

Instead, it is been involved in arranging the World XI series against the U-18 team.

Published in Dawn, January 24th, 2018