Pakistan look to host international hockey tournament later this year

KARACHI: Pakistan’s hockey chiefs are hoping to bring international action back to the country by hosting a world-ranking tournament on home soil sometime in the last quarter of 2020.

Brig Khalid Sajjad Khokhar, President Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF), told ‘The News’ on Wednesday that all out efforts will be made to stage an eight-a-side international tournament in the country later this year. Lahore is likely to be the venue of the tournament,

“We have been in talks with the International Hockey Federation (FIH) regarding the hosting of an international hockey tournament in Pakistan this year,” said Khokhar. “It’s all in the initial stage but we are hopeful that things will work out,” he added.

“We desperately want to bring international action to the country and must say that the FIH has been very responsive. We hope to work out the details and line up an international tournament this year,” he added.

The idea behind the tournament is having the second-tier hockey-playing nations, who are not part of the 2020 edition of FIH Hockey Pro League, play in a world ranking tournament. The proposed tournament can feature team likes Canada, Malaysia, France, Ireland, Korea, Japan and Pakistan. They are all among the top-20 nations, who are not part of the FIH Pro League.

“We wanted to stage the tournament in Lahore sometime in September or October,” said Khokhar. “But due to the coronavirus pandemic we might go for a slot in the later part of the year. At the moment we will wait and see how the situation changes in the coming weeks,” he said.

The concept of having an international tournament for second-tier nations came from the FIH and the Pakistanis are keen to host such an event for the dual reason that it will bring international hockey back to the country and will also help the national team to get an opportunity to earn vital world rankings points.

A constant slump in form over the years and lack of opportunities to feature in major international tournaments have left Pakistan at a dismal 17th place in the world rankings. That’s a major fall for a country which was once regarded as a superpower in international hockey.

“Our team can needs maximum opportunities to earn world ranking points and an international tournament at home will give them a good chance to take a shot,” said Khokhar. Pakistan are almost out of all major international tournament after their failure to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.

The Pakistanis were also unable to feature in the inaugural FIH Pro League last year because of lack of funds and then failed to qualify for this year’s edition. The FIH Hockey Pro League is the annual global League involving hockey’s best national teams in the world. The best team of the season – having accumulated the highest number of points at the end of the League - is crowned Champion and receives the FIH Hockey Pro League Trophy. Australia (Men) and The Netherlands (Women) were the inaugural Champions.