Germany’s national junior hockey team recently played a four-test series against Pakistan juniors. Lahore hosted three matches and Islamabad one. No less than six players from the Lahore-based Dar Hockey Academy, the country’s biggest hockey nursery, appeared for Pakistan: Sufyan Khan (Bannu), Rao Aqueel (Khoiwala, district Khanewal), goalkeeper Faizan Janjua (Gujar Khan, district Rawalpindi), Muhammad Ahmad (Khoiwala, Khanewal), M.Aleem (Peer Mahal, district Toba Tek Singh) and Aisam Hyder (Kot Radha Kishan, district Kasur) Sufyan Khan has been declared the FIH Emerging Player of the Year 2024. Rao Aqueel has become a regular in the national team. Custodian Faizan Janjua caught everyone’s eye with an outstanding display at the Junior Asia Cup a few months back. The other three, Muhammad Ahmad, M.Aleem and Aisam Hyder (whose elder brother Abdul Rahman, also a product of Dar HA, has played for the national team) were debuting for Pakistan. This is yet another manifestation of Dar HA as the conveyor belt of quality players.