The men in green had qualified for the main event courtesy of being crowned regional champions in October in China after defeating India. PHOTO COURTESY: Hammad Ghous Malik
The men in green had qualified for the main event courtesy of being crowned regional champions in October in China after defeating India, and although they failed to progress in Chile, they are now a part of the top six teams in the world with Chile, Argentina, England, US and Brazil ahead of them.
Khakwani said they had been proud of their efforts at the world championship after playing a closely-contested group match against the hosts, which they lost 11-10. “Pakistan proved that they a competitive side with this performance,” the skipper told The Express Tribune. “It would’ve been better if we had qualified for the last-four but we put up a good fight against a side that is formidable on its home ground.”
Khakwani added that they had taken the match into extra-time, which showed they had great potential as they came close to winning against the now world champions. “This was also the first time that Pakistan finished among the top six teams in the world; it’s already an honour for us.”
Pakistan has qualified for the main round twice before — in 2003 and then again in 2011. However, the format was different back then and featured 10 teams.
The Lahore-based athlete added that the experience of playing in Chile was valuable as they had played in some of the world’s best fields. “The championship was also well organised and the quality of the horses was equally distributed. Usually the fingers are pointed at the hosts but the FIP horse masters are sent before the championships to grade the horses and we were happy with the entire affair.”
‘Love for horses has kept me with the sport’
Khakwani said that he took up polo because of his father and continued the tradition, saying that he pursues the sport mainly because of his love for horses. “Horses are also athletes like us,” said Khakwani. “Polo is secondary in this; first you need to love the animal, they need to be trained and taken care of, maybe even more than us. My love for horses has kept me with this sport.”
He added that Pakistan lacks good polo fields. “Major polo activities only take place at the Lahore Polo Club while smaller tournaments go on throughout the year all over the country. We don’t have many polo fields and facilities which is why we don’t have many polo players. In Argentina, for example, there are 1,000 players but in Lahore we only get 50 to 60 competing at the top level. It’s also because polo is an expensive sport.”
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