Pakistan, which were a formidable force in the field of hockey, have been passing through a bad patch recently. For the first time in the history of hockey they failed to qualify for the 2016 Rio Olympics and are now languishing at No. 13 on the rankings table - below Ireland, Korea and Canada. After their failure to qualify for Rio, Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) chief Brig (retd) Muhammed Khalid S Khokar had vowed to re-build the side from scratch.
However, the recent terrorist attacks in Uri may eventually end up hitting PHF’s re-building process. With the Indian government looking to isolate Pakistan on every front, Pakistan team’s participation in December’s Junior World Cup now hangs by a thread. Scheduled to take place between 8- 18 December in Lucknow, the event will feature 16 best junior teams from around the world, which also includes Pakistan.
Fingers crossed
PHF is uncertain about the future. “We are looking at it from the sports point of view. The event is in December, we don’t know what will be situation then. We can only pray that the situation improves so that we get to participate in the tournament,” PHF director general Massaratullah Khan said. “This is a big tournament for Pakistan also because the team didn’t qualify for the Olympics and we are in the re-building process. We should keep sports and politics aside and there should be 100% participation from both sides. We should support each other in sports,” Khan added.
According to Khan, Pakistan’s participation also hinges on the clearance from its own government. “At the federation level we look to participate in every tournament. For that we have to take permission from our government. If we get the green signal we will surely come. Junior World Cup is a big event for us and we are keen to participate,” he added. Khan also recalled the time when things were good between the two countries and they played many reciprocal series. “From 2000 to 2006 I was the secretary of the PHF. During that period the two countries played a lot of series against each other. Even Hockey India chief Nardendra Batra had shown willingness of conducting such series,” he said.
A couple of years ago Dr Batra was keen on the series and even hinted to play in Bangladesh if the two sides were on the looking to play at the neutral venue. Dr Batra had shelved the plan after the visiting Pakistani side misbehaved with the crowds after beating India in the 2014 Champions Trophy at Bhubaneswar. The Mohammed Imran-led side made obscene gestures towards the crowd. International Hockey Federation (FIH) had investigated and reprimanded three Pakistanis players. When asked if visa will be an issue for Pakistan’s junior side, Dr Batra replied, “the government of India issues visas.”
