Pakistan all-time low in international hockey rankings

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan hockey ranking has sunk to all time low following country’s failure to honour the inaugural FIH pro league commitments.

Fresh FIH rankings see Pakistan getting relegated to No 17, five places lower to their previous ranking that was at No 12. Pakistan now is the lowest ranked team in Asian amongst the top hockey playing nations.

Australia heads the ranking following their Pro League I final win against Belgium. World champion Belgium followed. The Netherlands are at No 3 spot followed by Argentina, India, England. Germany, New Zealand, Spain, Canada, Ireland, Malaysia, France. South Africa ranked No 14 with Korea at No 15, Japan at No 16 and Pakistan at No 17. The main reason of this sudden down fall in the ranking is Pakistan national hockey team’s failure to compete in the first ever FIH Pro League even after signing the MoU. Pakistan national team is inactive for almost six months now resulting in deterioration in standard and ranking. The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) must be repenting its decision of not sending the team after signing the MoU almost a year back. The decision of not sending the team however was made when the likes of Ayaz Mehmood and Ikhlaq Usmani were looking after the PHF offices. The News has learnt that the two have proposed against participating in the Pro League.

When the secretary PHF Asif Bajwa was approached on this heavy fall of Pakistan ranking and his taking over the team at No 17 ranking, he admitted that not sending the team to Pro League was a big mistake. “Rest assure things would drastically improve in days and months to come. I have just taken over as secretary PHF. My efforts would be to get back in the top 10 ranked teams by the year end. This ranking of 17 neither suits Pakistan nor our team is so weak. What happened is that we have not played any international hockey for the last six months. Pulling out of the pro league is the main reason for this low ranking. We have already started the process of regrouping and hopefully soon you would see a better and fitter national outfit,” Bajwa said. He said he was as upset as any hockey follower could or should have been. “The reason is simple we have not played any international hockey these months. All other international teams were seen playing one tournament or the other.” The next rankings update will take place on September 8, 2019, following the completion of the Continental Championships.