LAHORE - A 33-member Oman hockey contingent arrived here on Monday to play a four test match series against national development and rising squads.
The visiting team was received at the airport by Punjab Hockey Association (PHA) President Lt Col (R) Asif Khokhar and other officials of the PHA and Pakistan Hockey Federation. The Oman team is on a preparatory-cum-training tour of Pakistan to give final touches to their preparations for the Asia Confederation Hockey Cup being played in Dhaka, Bangladesh from October 14, which is the qualifying round of the Asian Hockey Cup.
The touring side will start their tour with the first match here today (Tuesday) here at the outer ground of the National Hockey Stadium. The second test will be played at the same venue on October 2, followed by October 3 rest. The touring side will play the third game on October 4 at Johar Town Hockey Stadium followed by October 5 match at Sheikhupura under lights.
The Oman team squad comprises 24 players and 9 officials. The players are, Idrees Issa Khuda Bakhsh, Ibrahim Naseer Ali, Akram Ashoor Ranadhan, Amir Ahmed Mohamed, Fahad Hassan Juma, Adnan Khalil Abdullah, Taha Hussain Juma, Ahmed Yousuf, Abdullah, Hamed Abdullah Ghashim, Asama Khamis Mohammed, Saleh Rasem Salih, Mohammed Salim Hamad, Ali Ahmed, Abdullah Awadh, Rashad Salim, Usama Khamid, Saleh Aziz, Khalid Adil, Yaqoob Yousuf, Aliyas Sulaiman, Maadh Mohammed, Mohammed Suleman, Sultan Ali and Hussein Hatem.
The officials are Khamid Salim Bakhat (Secretary Oman Hockey Association), Taeeb Ali Hadoub (Treasurer OHA), Zuhair Mohammed Darwish (EB member, OHA), Mohammed Abdullah Said (team manager), Tahir Zaman (head coach), Shakir Munir (GK coach), Khalid Abdul Rahman (assistant coach), Mohammed Hoobais ( fitness coach) and Waleed Ghanim (team physio).
PHA President Lt Col (R) Asif Khokhar said that all the arrangements have been finalized to hold the match in a smooth manner. “We have formed various committees and appointed technical officials for the smooth conduct of the matches. The tour of the foreign team is of greater importance to revive international hockey in Pakistan.”
He said the matches will help the Pakistan Hockey Federation to try out new talent in different matches to short listed outstanding players. “We look forward to thrilling and competitive hockey series and it is good omen that international hockey returns to Lahore after a long gap.”
Meanwhile, Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) Secretary Muhammad Asif Bawja said the arrival of Oman hockey team is a ray of hope and a step forward to see the resumption of international hockey in Pakistan. “We are delighted that the oman team has arrived here to a play five test match series against our development and rising squads,” he said.
The touring side will play four matches at Lahore and one at Sheikhupura as a part of its preparatory tour for the Asia confederation hockey cup being played in Bangladesh from October 14. Bajwa stressed the need to motivate more foreign teams to visit Pakistan in near future to address the cause of hockey in the country and to put a new life in the dying national sport.
“If no international hockey activity is taking place anywhere in our country how can we motivate the youth to play hockey and take it up as a sport,” he said. “We have to speed up our efforts at international hockey forums to persuade the foreign teams to visit Pakistan to lend support for the resumption of hockey,” he added.
The PHF secretary said it is imperative in the larger interest of the game in the country to have regular visits of the foreign teams to Pakistan and to expose the young talent to competitive international hockey and to develop a pool of talented players to form national junior and senior teams. “Pakistan has been deprived of international hockey activities for over a past decade owing to security situation and now when the security has improved a lot situation is conducive for the visit of the foreign teams,” said Bajwa.
He said the visit of the Oman team is a way of learning for our upcoming players as they will be gaining international experience by playing a foreign team, no matter not at a higher position in Asian ranking. “At the same time we should not forget the sagging fortune of our national game which nowadays is a dying sport and it a sour reality we are at number seventeen in the world, given the fact that once we were a force to reckon with at international level with the possession of all major hockey title of the world,” said the PHF Secretary.
He said it is not easy to ensure the revival of the game in a short span of time as it needs years long focused and dedicated efforts with sheer hard work at grass root level. Bajwa said the present regime of the PHF is striving hard for the revival of the game by taking various measures besides mustering support of the provincial and federal governments for the provision of funds to re-launch hockey activities at all level.
“We inherited crisis ridden PHF with empty kitty and we have embarked upon a journey to re-establish our hockey at grassroots level, then at national level besides ensuring participation in elite international hockey events,” he said.
“If we do not follow multidimensional directions we cannot bring back hockey at the road of safety and progress and there is no shortcut to achieve this challenging task we are facing, we need to have maximum hockey activities with abundance hockey talent available to help us in regaining lost glory,” Bajwa concluded.