The 12th Junior Asia Cup is being held in Salalah, Oman from May 23 to June 1. Teams from Bangladesh, Chinese Taipei, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Oman, Pakistan, Thailand and Uzbekistan are participating in the event. These teams are divided into two pools, Pool ‘A’ includes India, Pakistan, Japan, Thailand and Chinese Taipei, while Pool ‘B’ includes teams from South Korea, Malaysia, Oman, Bangladesh and Uzbekistan. South Korea is the only team that has won the Asia Cup five times, while India and Pakistan have won the title 3 times. It is noteworthy that the Pakistan Junior Team is the only team to have won the three inaugural titles of this event. The National junior hockey team consists of 18 members. While six players have been kept in standby. Along with the team, manager and chief coach Olympian Hanif Khan, team consultant Roelment Altmans, coaching coach Olympian Zeeshan Ashraf, assistant coach Asif Ahmed Khan, video analyst Syed Ali Abbas, physiotherapist Waqas Mahmood, in addition to the 18-member junior team, Ali Raza, Muhammad Faizan. Janjua, Mohammad Abdullah (Captain), Aqeel Ahmed, Arbaaz Ahmed, Ehtisham Aslam, Mohammad Sufyan Khan, Arbaaz Ayaz, Mohammad Murtaza Yaqub, Arshad Liaquat, Ali Murtaza, Zakaria Hayat, Abdul Rehman, Abdul Qayyum Dogar, Abdul Hanan Shahid (Vice Captain), Abdul Wahab, Basharete Ali, Bilal Akram are included. While the standby includes Bilal Khan (goalkeeper), Muhammad Bilal Aslam, Muhammad Baqir, Muhammad Nadeem Khan, Muhammad Adnan and Waqar Ali.

It is a good thing that the Pakistan Cricket Board has given a chance to the new players, but it is surprising that Abbas Afridi, the bowler who took the most wickets in the PSL season eight, has been ignored. He is on top with 22 wickets in PSL Season 8. Three spinners namely Shadab Khan, Imad Wasim and M Nawaz have been included in the team. These three cricketers are also all-rounders. It is a fact that in other teams including Australia, England, New Zealand and South Africa, experienced players are rested despite good performances from time to time.  At the same time, new and young players who perform well are given chances with confidence.  Resting players and testing new players is a common practice in these foreign teams. We should also go through such a process so that the performance of other players in the same position can also be revealed. It is better for the team and the players as well. Seasoned players with good performance not only get tired of playing continuously but also get injured. Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf and other players can be cited in this regard, who are tempted to play a role in the victory. These players used tirelessly and then suffer from fitness problems for months. So senior analysts and well-performing players being rested should never be taken to mean that they have been dropped from the team. This process provides an opportunity to test the skills of new and well-performing players. The ball is now first time in the court of the players to see if they can repeat what they did in PSL season eight in the T20 series against Afghanistan in Sharjah?

 I’m sure the current junior team would have taken these things into consideration in their preparations for the Asian event, especially if you’re up against teams like India, Korea, Malaysia and Japan that what kind of strategy should be adopted against these teams? It is pleasing to note that before the Asia Cup matches, Pakistan defeated the Oman team by three goals to one in the warm-up match, however, a relatively weak team like Oman took a one-goal lead in the beginning. This is an alarming fact which shows that Pakistan needs to improve its defense strategy. Pakistan will face challenges in securing the title in the Asia Cup.

There is no doubt that ever since Haider Hussain took charge as the new Secretary of PHF, he along with PHF President Brig Retd Khalid Sajjad Khokhar has used his good offices to get funds, along with paying attention to the team and also tried to provide more opportunities for matches. PHF’s endeavor is that the national teams gain maximum experience by participating in as many competitions at the Asian and international level as possible and gain the ability to compete against the big teams at the international level. The way the current national junior hockey team has worked, it seems that this team will come out with fighting spirit against strong teams and once again establish the tradition of great performance of the past.

Here it is a strange coincidence that while the national junior team was participating in the Junior Asia Cup with good hopes, on the other hand, in the last few days, things related to the national hockey have come out one after the other, due to which the hockey fans are worried. The first thing is that the statement of the head coach of the national team from the Netherlands, Sagfried Ekman, about not getting the money according to the agreement, came out. Of course it is surprising that a foreign coach does not get money but it is a tragedy that PHF is facing shortage of funds.On the same days, Olympian Nasir Ali made some accusations against Olympians Akhtar Rasool, Islahuddin and Shahnaz Shaikh. These allegations relate to some cases of about twenty-five years ago. On the other hand, Assistant Coach of Pakistan Junior Team Adnan Zakir left the training camp organized a few days before the team’s departure for the Asia Cup and went back to England. He said that he was forced to take extreme steps on the basis of disagreement with the federation, including the coaching process and selection issues. While another important thing came to light, Defense Minister Khawaja Asif said in the National Assembly about Pakistan Hockey Federation President Brigadier Retired Khalid Sajjad Khokhar that he has been occupying the PHF presidency for many years.  On this occasion, he drew the attention of Speaker Pervez Ashraf to fix the hockey issues. After which National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervez Ashraf sent the case to the relevant committee for investigation.

On the other hand, PHF Secretary Haider Hussain said that the federation had some reservations over the interpretation of its constitution, given in the National Assembly Session. He said he wanted to explain the PHF constitution to Speaker National Assembly Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Minister for Defence Khawaja Asif and all the honourable members that the PHF President was constitutionally elected in the federation’s elections for a four-year term from 2022 to 2026. The elections were recognized by Pakistan Olympics Association (POA), Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) and International Hockey Federation (FIH). He elaborated that it was not written anywhere in the PHF constitution that the post of president was for one term only. The PHF constitution 12.9.2 speaks about the constitutional term of the PHF President. Haider Hussain said that he wanted to explain federation’s point of view on the briefing given to the Lower House of the Parliament by the honourable minister. He said that the PHF was a constitutionally independent organization, affiliated with FIH, AHF and POA.

Published in The Daily National Courier, May, 23 2023

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