Greenshirts to appear in the Indian Four-Nation hockey tournament
Pakistan men’s hockey team will take part in September’s Four-nation hockey tournament that is to be held at two venues in India namely Chandigarh and Jalandhar.
Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) yesterday, on July 18, has given confirmation of the team’s participation for the event. However, it will only be possible if the government allows it.
This participation is an attempt towards the betterment of sporting relation between the two arch-rivals. According to the PHF Secretary, Muhammad Asif Bajwa, the government clearance is expected to come soon.
The competition is all set to take place soon after the Asians Champions Trophy in China from September 19-26.
Furthermore, Bajwa said, “Basically, all our attention is geared towards next year's Olympics in London and we are trying to give our team maximum exposure at the international level.”
This competition is planned to run in two legs and will comprise of the host team India, New Zealand and Argentina against Greenshirts.
This invitation has opened doors for the two nations as a chance to tie-up since the last 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. Pakistan was supposed to take part in the 2009’s Four-Nation tournament, but was replaced by New Zealand.
However, it cannot be forgotten that India gave a warm welcome to Pakistan in last year’s World Cup appearance in New Delhi, India.
Former Olympian, Bajwa, seemed optimistic about this initiative and stated, “We hope hockey gives that opening which is requisite to revive sporting ties between Pakistan and India, and we feel that the situation as far as sporting ties are concerned is
improving. We had fruitful talks with our Indian counterparts and… we hope that our talks to revive Indo-Pak hockey series will also be materialised.”
Pakistan hockey team returned home yesterday from their month-long Europe tour in which they played two Four-Nation tournaments and two friendly series against Holland and Belgium.
The opening performance was brilliant when they won the first Four-Nation hockey title in Ireland, but later their performance deteriorated.
The team’s next assignment is the Chinese Champions Trophy for which the preparatory camp is announced to take place from August 10.
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