Our hockey has lost its way

Our hockey team has again disappointed the hockey fans of this country. Azlan Shah hockey tournament is a prestigious tournament in which leading hockey teams of the world take part and it is considered as an honour to win it. Up till now the performance of our team in this tournament leaves much to be desired. Till how long our hockey team would live on the reputation of its predecessor teams, particularly, those which were second to none in the world for a fairly long, long time?The youth of the country might not feel the extent of pain, which those of us who have gone long in the tooth feel, on seeing the debacle of our hockey over the years as we have been witness to the period between 1948 and 1990 when our hockey team ruled the roost. Seldom did we not climb the victory stand of almost every international hockey tournament worth its salt that was played for almost four decades after the creation of this country. Our downfall started since 1990 and the nose drive continues unabated.
Hockey was included in the world olympics of 1928 and history reveals that Indian hockey team used to win gold medal in hockey in every world olympics which were held after every four years till the creation of Pakistan. The PHF was established soon after this country came into being and our quest to win gold medal came to fruition in 1960 when Pakistan won its first gold medal in hockey in the Rome olympics held that year. Earlier Pakistan had won bronze and silver medals in the world olympics held in Helsinki and Melbourne respectively. Our victory march did not end there. From 1960 onwards up to 1990 our winning streak continued and we continually won gold and silver medals in almost all major hockey tournaments of the world. We can pride ourselves on the fact that we produced players like Anwaar Ahmad Khan, Habib Ali Kiddie, Zakauddin, Matiullah, Samiullah, Waheed, Hameedi, Atif, Akthar Rasool, Munir Dar, Qazi Mohib, Fazlur Rehman, Shahnaz, Rashid junior, Munawar Zaman, Nasir Bunda and Noor Alam, to mention a few, the likes of whom, were never seen by the world again.
From 1990 onwards, however, we lost our winning touch and for almost two decades now our team has been cutting a sorry figure in every world tournament. The PHF needs a go-getter type of chief like late Air Marshal Nur Khan who should believe in merit and who doesn’t give ear to any politician or ruler who put in a word for the selection of any player in the team.