Saadia Khan
The World Cup Hockey 2006 is being hosted by Germany in Manchengladbach right now. Yet, it is not even a subject of discussion amongst most Pakistanis. That is sad, because once hockey was followed as much by Pakistanis as cricket is.
The current Pakistan team is not a bad one and some believe that it has a realistic shot at winning the world title. Yet,the team gets very little support from Pakistanis.
Pakistan just began its firts match, against Japan. We all hope it will end in victory. India has played two matches and lost both; to hosts Germany and England.
During the FIFA Football World Cup 2006 (see ATP posts on Pakistan and FIFA World Cup here and here), tickets were extremely expensive and hard to get. In comparison, the tickets for World Cup Hockey in Germany 2006 are so cheap that even Pakistani students living in Germany can go and watch the live match and get opportunity to support the Pakistani team.
Luckily there is a good tradition here that some Germans will get the Pakistani flags to support the guest team in their homeland. This is good and I know those Germans who will be holding the Pakistani flag will be happy when the team will win the match. Many Germans say Pakistan is their favorite team to watch. But this cannot compare to the enthusiasm that support from Pakistani fans – in Germany but also in Pakistan and elsewhere on TV and through the press – will mean for the players.
Unfortunately, however, we have forgotten the legends of Pakistan hockey who brought the world cup titles home and made Pakistan one of the most successful Men’s hockey team ever.
In fact, the World Cup was originally conceived and created by Pakistan and even the Trophy was designed and given by Pakistan.
So, sports fans, maybe its time to show your support for the hockey team too!
This guest post was received from reader Saadia Khan, from Bremen, Germany.
HOCKEY STATS
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Does anyone know about a website about hockey that maintains the stats too. For many years now I’ve been looking for a site which can tell me which country has played how many hockey tests, wins, losses, goals etc. Also I would like to know individual stats e.g. the highest career scorer. I know it is Sohail Abbas but i would like to know many more individual records. Once i started counting Sohail Abbas’ goals myslef. I kept track from 180 plus to over 200 but then lost count of them. He scored 2 more today and one of his hit was recorded at 117 kmph. I’d love to see hockey stats but unlike cricket, hockey still lacks in record keeping department; eventhough more countries play hockey as compared to cricket.
I was wondering the exact same thing, as hockey is sadly a forgotten sport. A good performance will surely help it back into main stream Pakistani sport.
I have remained a fan of hockey and toady’s win was just a simple walk in the park, hope they get better.
I think more needs to be done to cover the event and I think i will start today ;)
Pak 4, Japan 0
Given that my maternal grand father played hockey all his life for the Indian and then Pakistani naval police teams, and particpated in trials for the 1st ever Pakistani olympics team, I am extremely happy to see this post. Thank you, Saadia.
I was a huge fan of Hasan Sardar, Samiullah, Hanif Khan, Shahbaz Ahmad, and ofcourse the colorful (and stylish) goalie Shahid Ali Khan.
Thanks for this post. Just yesterday I was thinking the same thing that cricket seems to get all the media attention these days. I got myself very surprised when a friend sent me an email telling me scores of first few matches of the World Cup. I didn’t even know that hockey world cup had started :)