PM urged to intervene to save Pakistan hockey

Expressing his dismay over Pakistan hockey team's embarrassing failure to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, legendary Olympian Shahnaz Sheikh urged Prime Minister Imran Khan, who is also the PHF patron, to intervene urgently so that the decliningand-dwindling national game is brought back on track.

After playing a nerve-racking 4-4 draw against the Netherlands on Saturday in the first match of the two-match Olympic qualifier in Amsterdam, Pakistan were crushed 6-1 by hosts in the second game. A few days earlier, M. Rizwan Seniorled green-shirts faced 6-1 and 6-2 drubbings in two warm-up Tests against Germany in their backyard. The humiliating loss in the Netherlands resulted in Pakistan's ouster from next year's Olympics. The country could not qualify for the 2016 Olympics too. Shahnaz expressed his utter disappointment over what he called the patron's unresponsive stance towards the national game which has faced alarming slide in recent years.

"Last year, when Imran Khan became the prime minister, sports fraternity of the country celebrated, thinking that that he would being positive change in sports sector, but to no avail," Shahnaz regretted.

"It is unfortunate that field hockey in Pakistan could not get the attention it richly deserves due to its magnificent past. We now expect the patron will soon call an emergent meeting of the PHF and [former] Olympians so that some concrete steps for hockey's improvement, which has been facing fast decline, can be taken," he stated. "Pakistan's international ranking has slumped to 17, which is shameful and disgraceful for hockey lovers of the country," Shahnaz said, adding that there is a need to start preparations on a war footing for the 2024 Olympics to be staged in Paris.

"It's really very painful that the former three-time Olympic champions and four-time World Cup winners even could not even qualify for the Olympics, what to talk of winning medals!" he lamented. "Pakistan have won as many as 23 gold medals, 17 silver and 14 bronze in major international events, like the Olympics, World Cup, Champions Trophy, Asian Games etc.