India

ERROL D'CRUZ

The whiff of fresh air provided by an Asian winner at the Rabo hockey trophy tournament in Amstelveen, Holland, should invigorate the hockey world.

And not just the hitherto success-starved Pakistan legion of fans, whose passion for the game poured onto the pitch at the Wagener Stadium after a 4-3 win over Olympic champions Australia and onto our TV screens, but also the Federation International de Hockey (FIH) who realise that the sub-continent drives the world game.

Pakistan Hockey Federation honorary secretary Mussarat Ullah Khan echoed this sentiment from Lahore: "India and Pakistan must regularly finish among the top in international hockey, otherwise the game loses its charm."

FIH president Ms Els van Breda Vriesman, must be hopeful too. When she took over as president four years ago, she made no bones about the fact that the interest of Indian and Pakistani fans must be sustained for hockey to make rapid strides as a global sport.

Pakistan's triumph couldn't have been better timed. It has come on the doorstep of the Super League (SL), based on the style of the Premier Hockey League (PHL) launched earlier this year in India.

According to an upbeat Mussarat Ullah Khan, people should flock to stadiums at SL centres. "By the grace of God and good wishes from across the border, Pakistan hockey has got a much needed boost," he said. "Surely, people will now come to watch the SL games in good numbers," he added.

In a country where cricket has taken a firm grip on the masses, the national game must now nurture hopes of closing the gap. Three Olympic gold medals and four World Cup titles seemed to have faded in memory in recent times.

Although Pakistan could well be India's envy, whose global title drought lasts a generation, the Green Shirts' last global championship title came at the 1994 Sydney World Cup.

The last Pakistan triumph in a tournament of more than four nations on European soil came in Barcelona 1992 in a seven-nation event. And although the natural attacking Pakistani style sustains, the poverty of tactics and strategy didn't bring fortune despite the efforts of Dutch coach Roelant Oltmans, who took charge for little over a year.

The 2003 Azlan Shah tournament in Malaysia was the last notable success for the Green Shirts, but the fizz evaporated quickly.

Olympic failure, where the team failed to make the semis in Athens and the recent Junior World Cup in Rotterdam where a lowly seventh place threatened to spell doom for a nation that initiated the World Cup and Champions Trophy, donating both splendid prizes to the FIH.

Amstelveen could have provided a soothing balm and a wounded hockey nation looks set for a resurgence at next year's World Cup in Monchengladbach, Germany, for which qualifying looks a formality.

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