Pak hockey chances for Olympics seem remote

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan chances of featuring in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic hockey seems done and dusted as the greenshirts have been left out of the second and last leg of the pre-qualifying round to be held in Le Touquet-Paris-Plage (France) 15-23 June 2019.

The only almost unrealistic chance left for Pakistan to make it to the next year’s Olympics is to improve on their FIH Ranking manifold during the next four months to become one of the leading teams of the world.

The International Hockey Federation (FIH) on Wednesday announced teams for the second leg. After missing out the first leg teams for tournament held in India, it was generally believed that Pakistan name would be there in the second leg of pre-qualifiers to be held in France.

Surprisingly when the FIH released name of teams for the second leg on Wednesday, Pakistan name again went missing forcing this correspondent to contact game’s governing body as to why the former Olympic and World champions name is not there in the competing teams of the second qualifiers.

The teams announced for the French Leg of matches are:

Pool A: Ireland, Egypt, Scotland, Singapore

Pool B: France, Korea, Ukraine, Chile

This correspondent question to Nicolas Maingot (Senior Communication Manager FIH) was, as to why Pakistan name is missing from the French leg of Olympic pre qualifiers or whether at all former world and Olympic champions would be provided opportunity to flex their muscles in these qualifiers.

Please help me in ascertaining the roadmap available for Pakistan to qualify for 2020 Olympics?

Nicolas Maingot was prompt in replying: “With the announcement of the non-participation of Pakistan in the 2019 FIH Pro League back in January, it was not possible to integrate the Asian team in the FIH Series Finals. Firstly, Pakistan has not played the Hockey Series Open which enabled teams to qualify to the FIH Series Finals. Secondly, when the Hockey Series competition format was agreed, Pakistan was not part of the teams accessing directly to the FIH Series Finals – based on their position in the FIH World Rankings – since Pakistan had applied to play in the FIH Pro League.

A qualification for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 is however still possible for Pakistan. It will depend on the team’s position in the FIH World Rankings when all continental championships will have been completed (8 September 2019).” Considering his reply it seems almost impossible for Pakistan either to improve their ranking or to be in a position to qualify for Olympics 2020. Only twelve leading teams of the world areto qualify for Olympics 2020 and amongst these four places are reserved for the continental champions.

Currently all leading teams are busy playing the pro league or qualifiers sane Pakistan. That means that in four months time, Pakistan FIH ranking would decrease instead of getting any better. Secondly, Pakistan after opting out of FIH Pro league and failing to join FIH series, have left them realistically no chances of making any improvement in their ranking.

Pulling out of the FIH Pro League after signing MoU is considered as a big jolt to Pakistan hockey. It would have been a better option for Pakistan not to sign Pro League and instead trying their luck in Pro Series where expenditures would have been affordable and teams are relatively weaker. Once they signed Pro League contract every effort should have been made to participate in the league. The no show has already cost Pakistan Rs 25 million in fine.