Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan faced another defeat in the ongoing FIH Champions Trophy taking place in Breda, Netherlands on Tuesday evening as the hosts thrashed the green shirts 4-0. The win against Pakistan meant that the Dutch topped the table. The Netherlands scored two goals, both in the second and fourth quarters, with Robbert Kemperman and Valentin Verga giving the Dutch a 2-0 advantage ahead of half-time before Thijs van Dam and Mirco Pruijser completed the win over Pakistan. Pakistan lost their opening game of the tournament to rivals India 4-0. The clubbing by India was followed by another loss, this time to top-ranked team Australia 2-1. On the other hand, fourth-ranked Netherlands who lost their opening game 2-1 to Argentina, thrashed Belgium 6-1 in the next game. Pakistan won the inaugural edition of the Champions Trophy held in Lahore in 1978 when they beat Australia in the final. Four years later, Pakistan picked up their second title beating Germany in Karachi. The last time Pakistan picked up the Champions Trophy title was in 1994 in Lahore, when they defeated Germany (7-6) on penalty strokes.

Not only does Pakistan have three titles under its belt, the green shirts have finished as runner-up seven times in the tournament in 1983, 1984, 1988, 1991, 1996, 1998, and 2014. Six teams are taking part in this year’s tournament, which is the last edition of the Champions Trophy. The tournament will be replaced by the Hockey Pro League (HPL) in 2019. Apart from hosts the Netherlands, Australia, Argentina, Belgium, India and Pakistan are taking part in the tournament from June 23 to July 1. Pakistan’s next game will be against Argentina on June 28 followed by match against Belgium on June 29.

Published in Daily Times, June 28^th 2018.