Daily Times

After remaining top of the hockey world for more than three decades, Pakistan is at its lowest rung today. It is lamentable that a country which 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 is now a lowly team. The side’s failure to qualify for the Olympics 2016 for the first time marks a calamitous new low. Last month Pakistan finished eighth in the Olympics qualifying round at Antwerp in Belgium. It is pertinent to mention that Pakistan finished last in the World Cup held in India in 2010, and also failed to qualify for the 2014 World Cup in the Netherlands. Pakistan hockey is on a serious decline since they won the 1994 world title in Australia.

Pakistan’s brilliant track record in international hockey since independence has owed much to the dynamic administrative skills of individuals like AIS Dara, Air Marshal Noor Khan, and Air Vice Marshal Farooq Umar. If one analyses carefully the periods of poor performance in Pakistan hockey they are invariably linked with poor management. At present there is much chaos and lack of vision in the PHF, and the chances the national team will sparkle in forthcoming events seem remote. Presently our national sport has been bedeviled with poor performance, rifts, petty politics, polarity, and has consequently been overshadowed by cricket. There are serious problems with the national sport of the country. Today Pakistan hockey is at the crossroads.

Due to country’s obsession with cricket these days, Pakistan hockey has been relegated to the background due to the Pakistan government’s indifferent attitude towards the national sport. On the other hand, our neighbour India in recent years has taken a giant leap in promoting its sports, injecting millions of dollars into cricket, hockey, badminton, tennis, football and kabaddi. They have started staging international leagues attracting world-class players. All this is helping India tremendously to elevate itself in the international sports arena. Unfortunately, the situation in Pakistan is exactly the opposite as the federal government lacks the required level of interest to involve the nation in sporting activities. Instead the Pakistan government is more interested in squandering billions of rupees on worthless projects.

Last week new president of the Pakistan Hockey Federation, Brigadier (r) Mohammad Khalid Sajjad Khokhar, received a vote of confidence from the ‘rubber-stamp’ PHF Congress in Islamabad while current secretary general of the body Rana Mujahid Ali was given an extension on his contract, which will run till the 2018 World Cup. Head coach Shahnaz Shiekh voluntarily resigned from his post for the “betterment of hockey”. Khalid was nominated as president by the PHF chief patron, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, for the coveted post after resignation of Akhtar Rasool who was forced to resign despite the fact that he was an elected president.

But changes at the top level of the PHF were expected after Pakistan failed to qualify for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics 2016. And how could the PHF Congress, comprising of weak and persons having their own axe to grind, could say no or go against the ‘wishes’ of the Prime Minister. It is an open secret that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif wanted Akhtar out of his sight for political reasons as well as for some ‘hatred’. And the Olympics failure gave the chief executive of the country a perfect opportunity. After the Olympics debacle, the Inter Provincial Coordination (IPC) Ministry and the PHF had formed their separate committees to probe what happened at Antwerp. The IPC committee, headed by former Olympian Col (r) Mudassar Asghar, in its report had put responsibility on the PHF officials and the team management. The PHF committee, headed by former Olympian Shahid Ali Khan, pointed out that preparation of the national team for such a big event was not perfect and the players also gave below par performance. Akhtar’s resignation came the day after the PHF fact-finding committee submitted its report to the national federation. A ‘postman’ of the IPC Ministry gave the Prime Minister’s ‘message’ to Akhtar who had no choice but comply. This ‘Akhtar-hatred’ was the main reason the federal government had refused to issue a special grant to the PHF in the last two years. It is really surprising and interesting that despite no money in the kitty, the greenshirts were able to grab gold medal in the Asian Champions Trophy, silver medal at the Incheon Asian Games in 2014 and silver medal at the FIH Champions Trophy in 2014.

After taking reins of the PHF, Khalid said that he and his team would work tirelessly to improve the state of hockey affairs in the country, adding that they had asked the government for a Rs100 million grant to initiate their goals. It is interesting to note that Khalid was a player and captain of the Pakistan Army hockey team from 1973-84. However he was never able to represent the country. At present he is working as Managing Director at the Pakistan Mineral Development Corporation (PMDC). Khalid wanted to become the Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) president but when Salim Saifullah Khan took control of Pakistan tennis he turned his ‘interest’ towards Pakistan hockey. Khalid is a close relative of powerful Federal Minister Ahsan Iqbal and has forced his way into Pakistan hockey. Khalid started his efforts to become the PHF president the day he came to know the crisis in Pakistan hockey, and his efforts bore fruit. Such positions have always proved a magnet for cronies and junket-seekers. After taking over, the new PHF chief jumped on the high horse, as if he would make Pakistan rule the world again.

In Pakistan hockey, whenever the greenshirts lose a tournament, an unwarranted overhaul takes place and merit runs poor second to personal whims. One is surprised to observe that the government ignores the fact that the change of command in no way promises success, planning does. But we are not a nation of sage souls. Rather we indulge in thoughtless decisions. If changing federation officials after every defeat or bad performance had been the best remedy, Pakistan would have been champions. Unfortunately, the technical understanding of issues is always ignored, and it triggers a rot.

A million dollar question which arises here is: would new PHF chief Khalid be able to deliver? The answer is not that difficult: NO. Khalid served as manager of the national hockey team for around three years during the tenure of his close ‘buddy’, then PHF secretary general Brig (r) Musarratullah Khan. And there was nothing to boast about managerial skills. If Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his ‘sage advisors’ in the IPC Ministry and the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) think that Khalid would turn the tide, they are gravely mistaken. Khalid’s tenure as PHF president might rock the basis of Pakistan hockey further. He has no leadership qualities, vision, charisma, and the killer instinct that are hallmarks of a good administrator. Like many in this country, he is also obsessed with having two hats. How he will run and manage Pakistan hockey while working as MD of the government’s corporation is anybody’s guess.

In the national sphere and the sporting arena the root of our dilemma is the notorious system of patronage and imposed cronies, to the exclusion of merit and professionalism. Under the powerful patron’s benevolent gaze, the pick and choose appointees can survive scandals and failures that would crush an ordinary mortal. All said and done, one still expected the authorities to replace an Olympian of the stature of Akhtar Rasool with some renowned Olympian having strong credibility or a strong and determined administrator to head the PHF. But the deplorable, condemnable and dirty role of the IPC Ministry and the PSB, behind the scenes, knows no bounds.

The question for the Pakistan hockey now is rebuilding itself from the ashes of the Olympics 2016 Qualifiers campaign. Asia, once regarded as the superpowers of field hockey with South Korea emerging in 1980s, will only have one representative — India — at next year’s Games in Rio de Janeiro. India, the eight-time Olympic gold medallists, missed out on the 2008 Beijing Games but managed to regroup with a big injection of financial support. These are times when one fails to figure out what is keeping Pakistan hockey alive. In other countries, the people running the hockey affairs contribute by taking professional decisions and by executing them with competence rather than on the basis of personal preference and bias. But, frankly, we are not such a nation. The statements given by the top PHF officials in the national media, aim at to make people believe that the national outfit is doing well, and that there is light at the end of the tunnel. The fact is that the way things are being conducted, the days ahead are anything but that. Self-projection is definitely being given a different meaning here.

Building a strong team is not an overnight process and it takes years to put together a balanced side keeping in view the modern approach to competitive international hockey, and the exacting scientific preparations that the international teams now favour. The standard of the game is changing so rapidly that the gap between the best and the second in line has narrowed considerably. In fact, the difference between the four top teams has become so small that whenever any two of them meet it is very difficult to predict the outcome of the game. Failure to qualify for the Olympics was a most forgetful incident for Pa