Though there is nothing wrong in re-election of Brig. Khalid Sajjad Khokhar as PHF chief for another four years, yet the wise thing for him should have been to resign from his slot in the wake of  the pathetic situation and disappointment arising out of Green Shirts continued failure on the international front . 

In fact, the entire PHF brass should accept the responsibility for the downfall of our hockey. He, however, has refused to take the blame for the pathetic performance of Green Shirts in international outings. However, the fact remains that along with other factors; the PHF policies are also very much responsible for the decline of our hockey.  

From unbeatable to total failure to not even make to the last two Olympics shows that the national game is at its lowest ebb right now. Every sensible Pakistani is baffled and saddened to see the country’s current hockey standing in comparison to Pakistan's past glory when it won a record four hockey World Cups and countless other Asian and International Tournaments. 

Questions arise as to why the PHF officials remain glued to their seats. In the wake of our team's pathetic show in hockey, they should call it day and say adieu to the PHF. The nation is really angry at how the green shirts played at international outings and the PHF should accept responsibility for this heartbreaking and soul-wrenching performance due to which we failed to even make to the FIH World Cup. There were times when Pakistan reigned supreme on the world hockey front and they were such a force to reckon with that the mega events like WC were considered to be incomplete without Pakistan's participation. 

Time has come the government must take note of this dismal state of hockey affairs and ensure a total overhaul of the hockey structure in the government. It may be mentioned here that in May this year, our national hockey team miserably failed in its bid to make to the FIH World Cup which has caused a severe sense of disappointment and despair among the hockey lovers, who are wailing over the pathetic show of the Green Shirts for a long time and now it seems that regaining past glory is hockey is only a distant dream if not impossible.  Every time, our team fails on the international front, there is an outcry from the hockey fans, the  ex-Olympians, commentators and ex-hockey greats  at large, calling for drastic changes in PHF set-up , whom they consider responsible for the downfall of our national game. The same demand is being repeated yet again and one is of the view that their demand must be met as time has come to overhaul the hockey structure and the PHF set-up across the country. In fact, the saga of downfall is so deep and it is more than meets the eyes. There are multiple reasons due to which our national game is reeling from one crisis to another, always performing below par. Every time, the team fails to qualify for big event, there is a backlash, but after sometime, the controversies die down and the hockey affairs remain unchanged.  The existing scenario on hockey front is beyond imagination and repair. In May last, the Pak hockey lovers were dumb found when they saw the Green Shirts exhibiting their poor form, suffered a crushing blow with a  2-3 loss to Japan in its last encounter of  Pool A matches during the ongoing Asia Cup in Jakarta.

They miserably failed to even make to the super stage of the event. With this the Green shirts also missed on all their chances to make to the FIH World Cup 2023. On the contrary, our arch-rivals India won in style and inflicted a crushing and comprehensive defeat of 16-0 against the host team i.e., Indonesia.  It ought to be mentioned with concern that the Green Shirts had also failed to qualify for the previous FIH Hockey World Cup. IN recent times our team’s has been rendering a shameful performance which does not suit the once undisputed champions of hockey which is evident from their past record of having won as many as four Hockey World Cups in a row--in 1971, 1978, 1981 and 1994.  

The last time, Pakistan became hockey championship in Belgium in 2018 and since then the saga of downfall has continued on the hockey front.  There were times when we won three Olympic Golds as well along with as many as four World Cup titles beside winning at countless championships at Asian and regional level but since 2010, out hockey is at  its lowest ebb as since then we failed to win any big international event after winning the  title of 2010  Asian Games.  Though the PHF officials and the team management attribute the Pakistan's crashing defeat to  multiple factors mainly their inaction during the Covid-19 period, but it were not Green Shirts alone who were undergoing this inaction, the rest of the teams were also out of action during the corona pandemic. 

Former Hockey greats, while wailing over this poor show of the national team, have attributed it to the poor structure of hockey in the country. They say that the hockey affairs are totally mismanaged by the PHF bosses, who are rather busy in mirth-making enjoying the international trips with no attention being paid to the game and its players.  They said that the current president of PHF is remaining glued to his seat for the last seven years which makes him the long-serving President of the Federation and similarly the team coach Khawaja Junaid is also with the team for a longer period, but the results are before the nation, which is not ready to digest such an inflicting blow to our national game at the hands of low-performing team Japan, which defeated us. It all happened despite the fact that the national team was given enough international exposure through the recent training tour of Europe besides appointing Dutchman Siefred Aikman as their head coach but all in vain.  

Published in The Daily National Courier, August, 22 2022

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