Pakistan’s decades of winning drought

Twenty-one years ago, Pakistan won the hockey World Cup after a nerve-wracking final against the Netherlands in Sydney, Australia. As the year closed out, sport was making the headlines for the right reasons. Pakistan, we were told, ruled the world in cricket, snooker, squash and hockey — four sports where the world champions’ title was ours.

Two decades later, it’s all a blur now. Cricket is now the only globally recognised sport where Pakistan prospers — with its fair shares of chaos, mismanagement and unpredictability.

Twenty years since Mohammad Yousuf’s remarkable win in the amateur snooker world championship, our cueists remain confined to the amateur circuit only despite consistent returns at the Asian and world level.



The sports board and the government seemingly don’t give a hoot — the federation and players continue to cry hoarse for their promised prize money and are forced to ply their trade within paltry funds and the limited amateur circuit only.

Squash and hockey have plunged to absolute depths; inept management, corruption and short sightedness of the officials, government and the subsequent lack of will amongst the players have brought the two sports on their knees.

The Greenshirts — three-time Olympic gold medallists in hockey — are going to watch the Rio edition of the Games next year confined to the sidelines.

Since Jansher Khan’s unceremonious exit, no squash player has come close to winning the British Open and World Open titles — the two most prestigious tournaments in the sport.

There was a time when squash finals were competed only by Jansher and arguably the greatest sportsman of all time, Jahangir Khan. Since the turn of the millennium, the sport has almost been squashed.

Nawakali, the birth place of seven world squash champions, wears a deserted look as the Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) and the stalwarts of the game continue to engage in turf — rather court — war.

While India continues to advance and develop a world-class sporting infrastructure through the involvement of their rich and affluent corporate sector, Pakistani sport federations and the officials at the helm are still mired in an ancient approach.

Other than cricket — and to an extent snooker and football — no sporting body in the country has the funds to run their expense and develop new talent. Crippled by the spate of terrorism in the last two decades, Pakistan remains a pariah for foreign sportsmen. Add the inept officials to the mix and hope evaporates quicker.

Over the weekend, the country celebrated its 69th Independence Day with a great sense of fervour and excitement and the sporting achievements of the nation were also relived in print and electronic media.

Javed Miandad’s last-ball six, Mansoor Ahmed’s diving stop of the decisive penalty stroke in Sydney, Jahangir Khan’s winning shot that took him to his record 10th consecutive British Open title etc. were played on television and narrated through special print pieces.

The glorious moments certainly give goosebumps to every Pakistani in and outside the country. But in the state of the present apathy, what is the sporting future of the country other than cricket?

The question must shake the concerned to the core. If it doesn’t, Pakistan carries the severe risk of confinement to one sport only, and there are many who believe that we are already a one-sport nation.

Are the decision-makers or the people at the helm bothered even the least bit?

Published in The Express Tribune, August 17^th,  2015.

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