Category: Hockey

SALALAH: Abdul Rehman scored a brilliant hat-trick as Pakistan came from behind to hand a 6-2 thrashing to Malaysia in the Junior Hockey Asia Cup semi-final on Wednesday.

Parabo Tangaraja opened the scoring for Malaysia in the 21st minute to take the lead which lasted until the 42nd minute as Muhammad Safyan fired the equaliser.

Abdul Rehman then struck his first and put the men in green in the lead in the 44th minute but the advantage only lasted a minute as Malaysia equalized.

Abdul Hannan Shahid’s field goal in the 47th minute once again put Pakistan into the lead before Abdul Rehman struck twice in the 48th and 51st minutes to complete his hat-trick and enhanced Pakistan’s dominance.

Arbar Ahmed’s 58th-minute strike proved to be a cherry on top for Pakistan which completed a 6-2 thrashing victory over Malaysia to qualify for the third straight Junior Hockey Asia Cup final and seventh overall.

Pakistan will now face arch-rivals India in the much-anticipated final of the Asian event. Earlier in the first semi-final, India blew away South Korea 9-1 to qualify for the final.

It is worth mentioning here that both Pakistan and India are so far unbeaten in this year’s Junior Hockey Asia Cup.

The arch-rivals also came face to face in the group stage but the enthralling contest failed to conclude a result as they settled for a 1-1 stalemate.

Playing at the Salalah Sports Complex, the Pakistan team defended the Indian attack quite brilliantly in the first quarter which ended without a goal despite men in blue enjoying the bulk of possession.

India took the lead via a penalty corner with Sharad Nand Tiwari flicking the ball in the net to help his team go 1-0 before halftime.

Pakistan, however, unleashed a counterattack in the third quarter and put the Indian defence under pressure.

India won a couple of penalty corners but failed to score. Pakistan, on the other hand, equalized through Ali Basharat, who netted from a close distance to make it 1-1.

The final quarter also witnessed a see-saw contest with both teams battling for a winning goal but the deadlock persisted till the final whistle.

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SALALAH: Pakistan beat Japan 3-2 on Monday in the Junior Hockey Asia Cup 2023 to reach the tournament’s semifinal while also qualifying for this year’s Junior  World Cup in Malaysia.

Pakistan will take on World Cup hosts Malaysia on Wednesday in the semifinal.

Abdul Wahab scored twice while Arbaaz Ahmed netted the first goal to give Pakistan a thrilling win over the opponents in their final encounter in Pool A.

Japan secured an early in the second minute of the game, through Kompi Yoshida on a penalty corner and ended the first quarter with a 1-0 lead.

Arbaaz found the equaliser in the 23rd minute on a penalty corner before Wahab put the Green Shirts ahead with a field goal in the 30th.

In the third quarter, the game witnessed a see-saw contest between the two sides as Japan nullified Pakistan’s lead through Hota Yamada in the 38th minute while Wahab was quick to restore the one-goal cushion.

With the win, Pakistan have also confirmed their spot in the FIH Men’s Hockey Asia Cup to be held in Kuala Lumpur from December 5 to 16, 2023.

Besides the Men in Green, India also qualified for the event’s semifinal from Pool A and will face South Korea, who finished second in Pool B.

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SALALAH: Pakistan held India to a 1-1 draw and continued their unbeaten streak in the Men’s Junior Asia Cup 2023 hockey tournament in Salalah, Oman on Saturday.

Sharda Nand Tiwari scored the opener for India in the 24th minute before Pakistan’s Basharat Ali equalized in the 44th.

Both India and Pakistan have accumulated seven points each from their respective three-game in Pool A but the latter leads the tally with a better goal difference.

Japan, who beat Chinese Taipei 10-1 earlier on Saturday, are third with six points from three outings.

Playing at the Salalah Sports Complex, the Pakistan team defended the Indian attack quite brilliantly in the first quarter which ended without a goal despite men in blue enjoying the bulk of possession.

India took the lead via a penalty corner with Sharad Nand Tiwari flicking the ball in the net to help his team go 1-0 before halftime.

Pakistan, however, unleashed a counterattack in the third quarter and put the Indian defence under pressure.

India won a couple of penalty corners but failed to score. Pakistan, on the other hand, equalized through Ali Basharat, who netted from a close distance to make it 1-1.

The final quarter also witnessed a see-saw contest with both teams battling for a winning goal but the deadlock persisted till the final whistle.

Pakistan have a fair chance to qualify for the event’s semifinal and also earn a spot in FIH Junior Hockey World Cup 2023 when they face Japan on May 29.

The Men in Green only require to avoid a defeat in their last group encounter.

Malaysia, as hosts, have already qualified for the World Cup. Since they have also qualified for the semi-finals of the Junior Asia Cup, this means that all the other three teams making it to the last four will gain entry into the World Cup as well.

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SALALAH: Muhammad Sufyan Khan and Abdul Hanan Shahid scored hat-tricks as Pakistan humbled Chinese Taipei 15-1 in their opening match of the Men’s Junior Hockey Asia Cup.

The Green Shirts were off to a flying start as Muhammad Sufyan Khan scored the opener just two minutes into the game.

Arbaaz Ahmed was quick to double Pakistan’s lead as he scored one five minutes later before Muhammad Sufyan Khan struck again in the 18th minute to take the national side’s lead to 3-0.

Pakistan struck two more goals in the first half and went to the break with an advantage of 5-0.

The green shirts completely blew away Chinese Taipei in the second as they smashed 10 more goals to complete a dominating triumph over hapless Chinese Taipei.

Chinese Taipei, on the other hand, could only manage to score only one goal and thus Pakistan claimed a big win. The Green Shirts will face Thailand in the second match of Junior Men’s Asia Cup on Wednesday.

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LAHORE: The head coach of the Pakistan men’s hockey team Siegfried Aikman on Thursday, has stepped down from his position.

According to the details, the Dutch coach did not receive a salary from the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) for the past 12 months which made it “impossible for him to continue working” with the team.

“A lot of promises were made but they were not fulfilled. I wanted to fulfil my commitment but it’s time for me to move on,” said Aikman.

As per the sources, the reason behind the delay in Aikman’s salary was a rift between the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) and PHF.

PHF General Secretary Haider Hussain expressed his disappointment over Aikman’s decision while accepting that nothing was being paid to the head coach.

He also claimed that he contacted the PSB regarding this matter on a number of occasions but the board did not take any action to resolve the issue.

It is worth mentioning here that PHF appointed Siegfried Aikman as Pakistan’s head coach in December 2021 for a five-year-long contract.

The Dutch has previously served as coach of the Japanese team, which stunned the world by winning the Asian Games title in 2018.

LAHORE: Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) on Thursday appointed the renowned Dutch coach Roelant Oltmans as the consultant to their national team for the Junior Asia Cup 2023. 

According to PHF, Oltamans has been contracted for the Junior Asia Cup only which is scheduled to take place between May 23 and June 1 in Salalah, Oman.

The 68-year-old has previously coached Pakistan national hockey team twice in the past in 2003 and 2018.

Besides Oltmans, the coaching panel also includes Olympian Hanif Khan (manager), Adnan Zakir International, Olympian Mudassar Ali Khan, Asif Ahmed Khan International, Olympian Zeeshan Ashraf, Rana Zubair (drag flickers coach) and Mazhar Abbas International (goalkeepers coach).

It is pertinent to mention here a total of 10 teams, split into two pools, will be competing in the upcoming Junior Asia Cup.

Pool A comprises Pakistan, India, Japan, Thailand, and Chinese Taipei, while Pool B consists of Korea, Malaysia, Oman, Bangladesh and Uzbekistan.

Pakistan play their opening match against Chinese Taipei on May 23 before facing Thailand on May 24, India on May 27 and Japan on May 29.

The tournament serves as the qualifying round for the Junior Hockey World Cup 2023 as the top three teams from Junior Asia Cup will qualify for the megaevent in Malaysia later this year.

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Pakistan men’s hockey player Hanan Shahid secured a major achievement to his credit as he was named the Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) Emerging player of the Year on Friday. 

According to the details, Lahore-hailed Hanan clinched the prestigious award at AHF Congress in Korea for his outstanding performances in Men’s Junior Asia Cup, Men’s Asia Cup 2022 and other events.

The youngster was also named the AHF Athletes Ambassador.

It may be noted here that Hanan is the son of former Pakistan hockey international Mohammad Shahid.

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ABBOTTABAD: Eminent Olympic champion and World Cup winner Lala Fazal-ur-Rehman, popularly known as Billa Lala, passed away here on Thursday. He was 84.

Fazal-ur-Rehman, who made his international debut for Pakistan in 1965 against Indonesia, went on to become a legend of the game as he enjoyed a prolific career, decorated with two gold medals and a silver.

Fazal represented Pakistan in two Olympics in 1968 and 1972 and had the honour of winning the gold medal for his nation in his first and a silver in his second global event.

Meanwhile, Fazal also partook in the inaugural Hockey World Cup in 1971 and won the second gold of his iconic career.

The funeral prayers of the legendary hockey player will be offered at Banda Phagwarian here on Friday.

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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Sports Board on Monday constituted a five-member committee to carry out the performance audit of the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) for the period between 2015 and 2022. 

As per the details, former team manager and Olympian Khawaja Junaid, who recently received a lifetime ban from the PHF, has been named a member of the committee led by the Director General (DG) PSB.

Olympians Akhtar Rasool,  Islah-ud-din Siddique and Shahnaz Sheikh are the other three members on the committee.

According to the notification issued by the PSB, a copy of which is available with ARY News, the committee will evaluate the performance of the PHF as per the PHF constitution 2015, as well as the roles and responsibilities of the PHF as a national sports federation covered in the PSB constitution.

The committee will prepare its report on the performance of the national hockey team for the period of August 2015 to May 2022, the notification added.

The committee will submit its reports within 60 days.

It is pertinent to mention here that PHF imposed a life ban on Junaid last week following an inquiry into the Pakistan team’s costly error during the Asia Cup match against Japan in 2022 when the green shirts fielded 12 players instead of 11.

“Pakistan faced a lot of embarrassment due to Khawaja Junaid. Due to his misconduct, Pakistan failed to qualify for the World Cup,” PHF had said.

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LAHORE: The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) on Tuesday imposed a lifetime ban on former team manager and Olympian Khawaja Junaid.

According to the PHF, the decision was made by the inquiry committee, founded to investigate the Pakistan team’s costly error during the Asia Cup match against Japan in 2022 when the green shirts fielded 12 players instead of 11.

Due to the blunder, the national team had a crucial goal disallowed against Japan and ended up on the losing side, which, consequently seized Pakistan’s expedition to qualify for the World Cup.

Notably, Pakistan needed to make it to the Super Fours of the continental event but could only finish fifth in the six-team tournament after beating Bangladesh in the rankings match.

Meanwhile, in an official statement, PHF stated that Junaid’s blunder resulted in Pakistan facing embarrassment, while the decision to ban him is in line with the Federation of International Hockey (FIH) guidelines.

“Pakistan faced a lot of embarrassment due to Khawaja Junaid. Due to his misconduct, Pakistan failed to qualify for the World Cup,” said PHF.

“The decision to ban him has been taken in line with FIH rules,” the statement added.

Meanwhile, the federation also confirmed that PHF President Khalid Sajjad Khokhar also approved the decision of banning Junaid as his mistake was irredeemable.

“The committee called Khawaja Junaid but he did not come. The misconduct of Khawaja Junaid is unforgivable,” said PHF.

“In the light of the inquiry committee’s report, after the approval of PHF President Brigadier R. Khalid Sajjad Khokhar, Khawaja Junaid has been banned for life. Khawaja Junaid will not be able to participate in any hockey activity,” the statement concluded.

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