Daily Times

LAHAORE: Pakistan hockey team are placed at the 14th position in the Federation International Hockey (FIH) rankings, their worst ever ranking. According to the latest rankings released by FIH on Wednesday, Pakistan slipped one place from their previous worst 13th to a new low of 14th in the chart with 895 points. The green shirts finished at seventh place out of 10 teams in the recently concluded FIH World Hockey League and failed to secure direct qualification to the World Cup 2018. Pakistan earlier missed the 2016 Olympics, the FIH Champions Trophy and the 2014 World Cup due to poor show. The latest ranking are led by Argentina, followed by Australia and Germany at second and third position, respectively.

Former captain Samiullah Khan has expressed his disappointment at the current state of the sport. “The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) failed to create a pool of players and now we have very limited players in our hockey circuit,” said Samiullah. “Unfortunately, some Olympians sticking with the PHF are not sincere with the game and they’re there working for their own survival,” he maintained.

With Pakistan’s obsession with cricket these days, the national sport hockey has been relegated to the background in recent years due to the team’s poor showing in major events and favoutism and nepotism reigning unhindered in the PHF. Pakistan hockey remained up in the clouds for more than three decades. Pakistan won Olympic gold thrice, World Cup four times, Asia Cup thrice, Asian Games gold record eight times, Asian Champions Trophy gold twice, FIH Champions Trophy gold thrice and remained unbeatable at regional level for many years. “We introduced tournaments such as the World Cup, Champions Trophy and Asia Cup and it is very sad to see that we are now struggling even to qualify for these tournaments,” said Samiullah.

Published in Daily Times, July 27^th 2017.