Pakistan take on Spain in London Olympics 2012 Field Hockey
Pakistan will take on Spain in their opening match of
the London Olympics 2012 Field Hockey Tournament at
the Riverbank Arena, Olympic Park here on Monday.
It is interesting to note that field hockey debuted
over 100 years ago at the 1908 London Olympic Games.
Pakistan are in Group A along with Australia, hosts
Britain, Spain, Argentina and South Africa. Defending
champions Germany are in Group B, which includes
Netherlands, South Korea, New Zealand, India and
Belgium. Pakistan’s match will start at 13:45 pm
(17:45 pm PST). The other matches of the day are
South Korea vs New Zealand, Australia vs South Africa,
Netherlands vs India, Britain vs Argentina and Belgium vs Germany.
Pakistan’s main hopes for a medal are on hockey. The 35-year-old sharp shooter Sohail Abbas is the captain of the squad. Pakistan’s recent poor performance in
the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Malaysia forced the selectors to recall senior players Rehan Butt, Mohammad Waseem and Shakeel Abbasi who featured in a rebel hockey league in India which threatened their places for the Olympics.
Three times Olympic champions and four times world champions Pakistan have slumped at international level after poor planning and with talent becoming increasingly scarce. They finished at their worst-ever eighth position in the last Olympics in Beijing four years ago, and then slumped to the 12th and last position in the 2010 World Cup in India. The team did win the Asian title in China in late 2010 however to secure direct qualification for the London Games and give a boost to their confidence.
Sohail, the highest goal scorer in the history of international hockey, told Daily Times that it had always been his dream to captain his country in the Olympics. “And today that has come true. Now the real test begins,” Sohail added. “I strongly believe if we play as a team we can be a dangerous side in the Olympics and back on the medals podium.” With a tally of 345 goals, the strongly built Sohail is considered to be one of the few players who can take Pakistan back to their Olympic glory days. “They say hockey today is all about speed, precision and fitness, I say if we play as one and use our skills effectively we can beat any team,” he maintained. Sohail, who missed the last Games in Beijing after scoring 11 goals in the 2000 Sydney Olympics and eight in Athens four years later, is hoping to rediscover the same form in London. Pakistan won Olympic gold medals in Rome 1960, Mexico 1968 and Los Angeles 1984 but their last Olympic medal was in Barcelona 1992 when they picked up bronze. Pakistan have not stepped on the podium for quite some time and they would try to rectify it this year.
The greenshirts have a great history laced with flair and flamboyance. There are no competitions in the hockey world that don’t bear the stamp of the team’s class. The bastion of Asian hockey, whose game is emulated by aspiring nations, is passing through a crucial phase, caught between high expectations and an unforgiving and increasingly competitive world. Pakistan have been the most visible of teams, travelling across continents in their quest for resurrection, and in the process entertaining the world at large. Presence of Pakistan in London adds spice and grace to the event. “We have high hopes with the team,” head coach and manager Akhtar Rasool said. “If we finish on the victory podium it would be as good as a gold medal, if we finish between 4-6 it would be worth the hard work,” he added.
Hockey at this Olympics will create at least a bit of new history for itself: these are the first Summer Games that hockey will be played on a blue pitch. All the other participating teams have practised on the turf for at least six months before coming to London. But Pakistan’s practice on the blue turf is not that much. They played on the blue turf during the Sultan Azlan Shah Cp in Ipoh in May this year. The blue turf is bouncy, slippery and faster than the green one and the Pakistan players will surely face a lot of problems. Since the blue turf at the Olympics will be much faster, the 12 participating teams will need extraordinary fitness levels to excel on the surface.
PCN Staff Editor
