LAHORE - Hosts Pakistan and Uzbekistan notched up high-scoring victories to take a fine start in the Haier International Hockey Series here at the National Hockey Stadium on Monday.
Uzbekistan routed Afghanistan 11-0 and Pakistan President XI outshone Nepal 9-0 on the opening day in the two one-sided matches. Punjab Law Minister M Basharat Raja graced the opening ceremony as chief guest while Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) President Brig (R) Khalid Sajjad Khokhar and officials of PHF and Punjab Hockey Association (PHA) were also present on the occasion.
It is pertinent to mention that Pakistan President XI’s is appearing as a guest team. Their matches are all ‘friendly games’ and carry no points towards the actual tournament. In the match between two beginners in the international hockey, Uzbek side completely dominated against Afghanistan and impressed with their hard work and moves up and down the flank. The winners were quick in attacks and solid in defence and didn’t allow their opponents to challenge their supremacy in the match.
Pakistan President XI, consisting of young emerging players, thrashed Nepal 9-0. The home side added goals at its will against Nepal which lacked basic drills of the game and struggled throughout the match to follow their speedy opponents who were ahead in all departments of the game. Today (Tuesday), Kazakhstan will take on Nepal while Pakistan President XI will play against Uzbekistan.
FIH HOCKEY SERIES TO SEND A POSITIVE MESSAGE TO WORLD
PHF President Brig (R) Khalid Sajjad Khokhar Monday said that the successful holding of the ongoing FIH hockey series in Pakistan will send a positive message to the world that Pakistan is a safe country for hosting elite hockey events.
“We are hosting an international hockey event almost after fourteen years and we are delighted that four foreign teams are taking part in it,” he said here at National Hockey Stadium after the opening ceremony of the series. Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Nepal and hosts Pakistan are featuring in the six-day event.
The PHF Chief said holding of this event is of greater significance for Pakistan as foreign teams are playing in Pakistan after a long gap and its successful holding will be a way forward for bringing back regular international hockey ties at the Pakistani soil in due course of time. “This series will also supplement the ongoing efforts of PHF for the revival of hockey which is a dying sport in Pakistan due to lack of patronage of government and resources,” he said.
Khokhar rejected a questioner that the series is of lesser important as little known teams only from Asia are featuring in it saying, “No matter the participating teams are just beginners in the international hockey but in the given circumstances, when other top notch teams are not ready to visit Pakistan owing to various reasons, the visit of the these teams is a ray hope for resumption of international hockey in the country.”
Khokhar said the PHF is heavily banking on the success of the FIH series as it will also help in staging FIH Prof Hockey league in Pakistan in near future. “Due to the prevailing situation we will be playing this home and away league abroad for time being and then a stag will be come when we will be able to organize our home matches of the league in Pakistan as small international hockey events will reestablish the confidence of foreign team on Pakistan in order to play hockey,” said PHF chief.”
He said PHF was taking measures for the revival and development of the game which has becoming a challenging and tough task due to lack of interest of government to pump in funds to infuse a new life in this dying sport. “If sufficient funds are not available how can we groom our teams on modern lines as other countries have progressed a lot of recent years,” he said.
“Take the example of newly-crowned World Hockey champions, Belgium, a decade ago, they were little known at the international hockey scene but they progressed a lot in recent years outshining masters of the game which was only possible as they attached top priority to hockey as a sport and spent a heavy amount of recourses on the training and grooming of its national teams and finally got the result by winning the Cup,” Khokhar added.