Debacle in Sydney Abdul Nadir M.D. via e-mail

The only realistic, though faint hope, for Pakistan to win a medal in the XXVII Olympics was through a victory in the field hockey competition. In other sports and events, our athletes were eliminated in the very first round. In fact, our swimming prodigy could not even complete the hundred-meter butterfly within a minute - a feat only matched by one more athlete among the fifty contestants.

After the initial hiccups in the field hockey group matches, Pakistan emerged the leader in its group and the only team without suffering a defeat - seemingly an outstanding feat, but actually a miracle.

Immediately after the pool match against Malaysia in which Pakistan narrowly scraped a last minute goal through a strong drag flick of Sohail Abbas to obtain a draw, Pakistan team manager Islahuddin ruled out Pakistan from playing in the semifinals. He had prematurely given up on his own team. In the very closely fought Olympic championship the unbelievable happened on the last day of the pool matches. Repeated Dutch sallies into Pakistan’s citadel went astray as if divinity was protecting it. But Allah did not intervene in the subsequent games and the most prepared emerged victorious. The game against South Korea proved the age-old adage that God helps those who help themselves.

Pakistan had registered two impressive wins against Korea this year, one in the Azlan Shah Cup and the other in the Olympic qualifier. Korean manager, Kim Sang, knew that very well and proved to be a master strategist. While he had a plan to neutralize Sohail, Pakistani bench officials did not have one to make Sohail more effective. He failed to score even once off the five penalties whereas out of only a few attacks of Koreans one penalty was converted into the decisive goal. The faces of Pakistani players fell in disbelief; there were wet eyes of Pakistani supporters in the stadium. The game against Australia was lost with a wider margin. Australia, supported by a big home crowd and a mature team combination, easily whipped Pakistan 6-3. The only consolation for the Pakistani Hockey Federation was that Pakistan has automatically qualified for the Champions Trophy and the World Cup and her position has gone up from 6th in Atlanta to 4th in Sydney.

Just as in Atlanta in 1996, not once was the Pakistani national anthem played during the Olympics. The country has abundant talent, but without methodical planning, the future of Pakistan hockey appears bleak.