Sports Bulletin

Raja Hafeez Ahmed Lausanne (Switzerland):-FIH CEO Thierry Weil reflects on the Hero FIH Hockey5s Lausanne 2022 which took place in the Olympic Capital on 4 and 5 June. Thierry, what do you keep in mind from this first Hero FIH Hockey5s Lausanne 2022? What I particularly enjoyed was the fact that people having a walk at the Place de la Navigation around the lake in Lausanne, stopped, looked at what was going on and eventually decided to move into the stadium and watch the games! This was exactly the purpose of this event: bringing hockey to people. Then of course the huge enthusiasm of the players to play this format – for some of them for the first time – as well as the intensity of the matches were a blessing. India men – considered as pre-tournament favourites – won. But for the women, the winners were Uruguay, therefore confirming that Hockey5s enables nations who are not necessarily regarded as powerhouses of world hockey to excel. How do you look at this? Here again, this is fantastic since one of the main reasons why FIH has decided to boost the promotion of Hockey5s is precisely because this format enables some smaller nations to play at the same level as the traditionally bigger ones and even beat them! Extrapolating from this, it means that numerous nations in the world could start hockey with Hockey5s, which it’s simpler and cheaper to put in place. Speaking of India, what do you think of the current situation with Hockey India? It’s 100% clear that every National Association has to make sure that its Statutes are compliant with the sports code of the local authorities. Therefore, if this is not the case for Hockey India at the moment, then this has to happen. However, this situation does not affect FIH’s full trust in Hockey India. Indeed, Hockey India has been and continues to be a key actor of the development of our sport, not only in the country, but also for the world, as an outstanding organiser of numerous FIH events. How can Hockey5s support the overall growth of hockey? Hockey5s is a great lever to boost the growth of hockey at the global level. Thanks to its less restrictive infrastructure – smaller field – but also to the required number of players, the practice of Hockey5s can be a real development asset for many nations in the world. Developing the sport is the number 1 mission of any international federation. The same goes for FIH. This is why, among other things, the FIH has decided to create a Hockey5s World Cup (first edition in 2024). In addition, the size of the field also makes it possible to anchor the Hockey5s in the heart of cities, giving it an urban dimension that is very fashionable and attractive, especially among young people. Finally, Hockey5s is an excellent springboard, a "gateway", to 11-a-side hockey.

Raja Hafeez Ahmed Lausanne (Switzerland):-After 2 days of swashbuckling Hockey5s action through 22 total games, we have our first ever winners of the Hockey5s event, with Uruguay, who won every match they played at the event, overcoming hosts Switzerland in the women’s final to become the Women’s Champions; while India who started the event as favourites in the men’s event, lived up to the billing prevailing over Poland to become the inaugural Champions in the Men’s event. Overcast conditions in Lausanne proved to be a foreshadowing of the day to come as it rained goals throughout the day with teams getting more familiar with the format of the game and the tactics best suited to prevail in it. India, the eventual champions set the tone for the day with an offensive masterclass in a 7-3 win over Malaysia and from there the barrage of goals never ceased with a total of 78 goals scored in the 10 games! Switzerland men caused the biggest upset of the day with a 7-5 win over Pakistan in a game that they trailed for most parts but kept finding ways to come back! India defeated Poland with another clinical attacking performance in the group stage match which left Pakistan to win their final match against Malaysia to seal their place in the finals. Malaysia, who had just 1 point from their first 3 games, brought their A-game into their last match and played out a thrilling 5-5 draw against Pakistan in a game where the lead swung from every couple of minutes! The draw for Pakistan meant Poland finished over them in the 2nd position with 2 wins and 2 losses, and moved to the finals against India who ended the group stage with 3 wins and a draw. On the women’s side, Uruguay won their 3rd and 4th match of the pool stage against South Africa and Poland to go 4 for 4 and finish top of the table with comfortable ease. The 2nd final’s spot was up for grabs for all the other 4 teams however. Hosts Switzerland who started the day in the 2nd place lost their opening encounter to India and had to rely on other results to make it to the finals. India and South Africa played the final pool stage game and after a thrilling 4-4 draw, it was the Swiss fairytale that continued to the final. The women’s final started off with an early goal from the home team on the back of a booming crowd that certainly believed in their team. But Uruguay showed no nerves and went about their business in the calmest of manners and within 5 minutes of going behind they had not only restored parity, but also found a second and third goal to take a comfortable 2 goal lead into the half time. Skipper Manuela Vilar found the goal twice and Teresa Viana, who finished as the Top Goal Scorer and Best Player overall, found the third. The second of the game was a clinic in game management from Uruguay as they bossed possession and killed off any hopes of a Swiss comeback to win the finals by a 3-1 margin, becoming the inaugural champions of the Hero FIH Hockey5s Lausanne 2022! If there were any doubts about the ability of the Hockey5 format to upset the pecking order, it was erased within 4 minutes of the Men’s finals, as Poland, who were the distinct underdogs, shocked India with 3 goals before India could find their feet in the game! But with 16 minutes left in the game, Indian nerves were settled by a thumping goal by Sanjay that got them going. Captain Gurinder got a second goal before the half time, that allowed India to trail by just 1 goal going into the half, and the game was anyone’s to win! India had all the momentum going into the half and they started the second half in a similar vein. Boby Singh Dhami got India the leveller in the 1st minute and that was followed by some genius from the Player of the Tournament and Top Goal Scorer Raheel Mohammed scoring 2 goals to give India a 2-goal lead. Poland got a 4th goal that could have got them a way back into the game, but once again it was Raheel Mohammed who brilliantly set up another goal for Boby Singh Dhami that effectively ended the game with just 1 minute left. Awards: Best Goalkeeper (Women): Ursina Fazis (SUI) Best Player (Women): Teresa Viana (URU) Top Scorer (Women): Teresa Viana (URU) Best Goalkeeper (Men): Lars Kleikemper (SUI) Best Player (Men): Mohammed Raheel (IND) Top Scorer (Men): Mohammed Raheel (IND)

Sports Bulletin Report Lausanne (Switzerland):-The Hero FIH Hockey5s Lausanne 2022 event is the first official senior World Hockey5s competition to be organised by FIH and it builds on the success of Hockey5s events that have been taking place across the world, including the Youth Olympic Games events in Nanjing 2014 and Buenos Aires 2018. Taking place in the centre of the Olympic Capital Lausanne on June 4-5, Hockey5s Lausanne 2022 will be two days of hockey action, fun and entertainment. The hockey action will see the men’s teams of India, Malaysia, Pakistan, Poland and Switzerland compete in a round robin style tournament, with a final between the two top teams. South African coach Tsoanelo Pholo said: ‘Hockey5s is an initiator into hockey, a developer into the full-field version. If you have a Hockey5s court in three or four places in the country, I am telling you now, we are going to have way more hockey players in developing countries.’ Swiss athlete Sae Fontana said: ‘As early adopters of Hockey5s, we want to gain a competitive advantage, to get better rapidly, as a small country. Hockey5s is a fast game which makes it intense for the players.’ There will be some superstars, both established and up and coming, showing their skills at the Place de la Navigation, near Lake Geneva. Pakistan men led the way in the sport throughout the 20th century and it is exciting to see what this young team can do in a new format of the game. The speed and intensity will suit the super close skills of the Pakistan team. Both Poland and Switzerland men’s teams will be looking to transfer some of the skills and tactics of the indoor game onto the court in Lausanne. Poland is a specialist when it comes to the short form of the game and Switzerland, led by Sebastian Schneider, will have the advantage of a home crowd.

Raja Shafik ISLAMABAD : Pakistan’s hopes to enter the super four stage of Asia Hockey Cup 2022 and qualify for the 2023 Hockey World Cup suffered a big blow as they conceded a 2-3 defeat at the hands of Japan in a closely-fought Pool A match at the GBK Sports Complex Hockey Stadium in Jakarta, Indonesia on Thursday. According to information made available here by the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF), Japan, who earlier on Tuesday stunned defending champions India 5-2, scored two goals in the first quarter to put Pakistan under pressure. Pakistan made a strong comeback in the second quarter when in the 23rd minute Ijaz Ahmed scored a scintillating field goal. But four minutes later Japan scored the third goal. Pakistan found another breakthrough in the 30th minute, thanks to a well-converted penalty corner by Mubashir Ali. By the end of the match, both teams failed to score any more goals. Pakistan, who scored a last-minute goal to draw 1-1 against India in their tournament opener, registered a thumping 13-0 win against hosts Indonesia on Tuesday. But despite that, they finished at number three as India claimed second spot on the points table after thrashing Indonesia 16-0 in their last pool game. That means Japan, South Korea, and Malaysia have sealed the FIH World Cup 2023 berths. India has qualified as hosts and Pakistan are out of the race. The Asia Cup served as a World Cup qualifier. (Thanks to APP)

Sports Bulletin Report Lausanne, Switzerland: All 16 qualified teams line-up has been completed for the FIH Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup 2023 Bhubaneswar, Rourkela, India. At the Hero Asia Cup, which is currently taking place in Jakarta, a thrilling match between Japan and Pakistan, which ended 3-2 in Japan’s favour, meant Japan joined Malaysia and Korea as the three teams to qualify for the World Cup. As the host nation, India had already qualified. At the continental showpiece event, India, Japan, Malaysia and Korea have all won through to the top four of the competition, with the Super4s finals taking place over the weekend to decide the overall winner of the event. The other two teams making up the participating nations are the top ranked teams in Oceania, New Zealand and Australia. Full list of participating nations: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Chile, England, France, Germany, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Netherlands, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain and Wales.

Sports Bulletin Report Jakarta (Indonesia):-Pakistan outclassed hosts Indonesia 13-0 in their second match of the ongoing Asia Hockey Cup here in the capital city of Indonesia on Tuesday. Pakistan and India had locked the horns 1-1 in the opening match on Monday at the same pitch. Pakistan showed excellent play in the second match of the schedule and easily defeated Indonesia by 13-0. Ijaz Ahmed scored the first goal in the second minute while the second field goal was scored by Rana Waheed in the fourth minute. Abdul Manan netted the ball in the sixth minute while the fifth goal was scored by Mubashir Ali with the help of short corner. Rana Abdul Waheed scored the 7th field goal in the 19th minute. Also, Abdul Manan pushed the ball in the goal-post in the 19th minute. Rizwan Ali scored the 9th goal in the 25th minute with the help of short corner, Ghazanfar Ali scored the 10th field goal in the 35th minute. The 11th goal was scored by Rizwan Ali in the 43rd minute with the help of a short corner, the 12th field goal was scored by Moin Shakeel in the 45th minute and the 13th field goal was scored by Ijaz Ahmed in the 49th minute. Rana Waheed was declared the best player of the match. According to the Asia Hockey Cup schedule, the event teams were divided into two pools. Pool A includes India, Japan, Pakistan and Indonesia while Pool B includes Malaysia, Korea, Oman and Bangladesh. Pakistan will play its third match against Japan on May 26.

Sports Bulletin Report Lausanne, Switzerland:- ‘Hero FIH Hockey5s Lausanne 2022’, the first-ever senior World Hockey5s event organised by the International Hockey Federation (FIH), will take place in less than one month, on 4 and 5 June 2022, in Lausanne, Switzerland. In addition to a thrilling competition on the field of play with some of the powerhouses of international hockey (Women: Switzerland, India, Poland, South Africa and Uruguay; Men: Switzerland, India, Malaysia, Pakistan and Poland), the event also aims at enabling everyone to discover and practice the sport, with an initiation offered to the public throughout both days! Furthermore, a DJ music programme will entertain fans during the whole event. And since hockey is a big family, even the players of the flagship ice hockey club of the Vaud city - the Lausanne Hockey Club (LHC) - will be there and will come to compete for an exhibition match at a local and international selection of (field) hockey players! Hockey5s is played with 5 athletes per team. It is particularly known for its non-stop action, since the ball is in play for about 90% of a match, thanks to perimeter boards placed against the outside of the side-lines and back-lines. There are usually more goals with Hockey5s than with the more traditional 11-a-side format of hockey, since players can score from anywhere in the attacking half. The match duration is shorter, with 2 halves of 10 minutes each. Hockey5s is played on a smaller pitch, which enables to bring hockey to people in new and unexpected venues, sometimes even in the heart of cities. Precisely, ‘Hero FIH Hockey5s Lausanne 2022’ will be staged on the Place de la Navigation, an iconic location near the Lac Léman bordering the Olympic Capital, where a 500-seat stadium will be built specifically for the occasion. FIH Global Supplier Polytan will deliver the first prototype non-watered turf for elite hockey. FIH CEO Thierry Weil stated: “We’re very much looking forward to this really exciting event in the Olympic capital! Beyond the competitive aspect, one major objective of this event is to promote - or even introduce - the intensity, speed, skills and fun of hockey to everyone, not only in the city but also worldwide thanks to Watch.Hockey and our broadcast partners. On behalf of FIH, I’d like to extend our sincerest thanks to all our partners, in particular our title sponsor Hero, as well as the City of Lausanne and the Canton of Vaud, for their great support. And I invite everyone to come and enjoy our sport!” Played in more than 70 countries around the world, Hockey5s was the most attended sport at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, with no less than 200’000 spectators! In 2019, in order to further boost the development of hockey globally through Hockey5s, the FIH Executive Board decided to create an FIH Hockey5s World Cup - with the inaugural edition planned in 2024 in Oman - and, in the near future, a Hockey5s World Tour, which will consist of events similar to Lausanne’s.

Sports Reporter LAHORE:-The Pakistan Hockey Federation has named the 40 players set-up national hockey training camp to prepare the squad for upcoming Asia Hockey Cup 2022. The camp will start from May 9 at the National Hockey Stadium in Lahore. Federation has instructed the players to report to camp manager Olympian Khawaja Junaid on May 9. It is to be noted that the said National Training Camp is being held in connection with the preparations for Asia Cup Jakarta, Commonwealth Birmingham and Asian Games China.  Names of players: Abdullah Ishtiaq, Goalkeeper (Mari Petroleum), Akmal Hussain, Goalkeeper (WAPDA), Mubashir Ali (WAPDA), Emad Shakeel Butt (National Bank), Abu Bakar Mahmood. (National Bank), Mohammad Abdullah (Mari Petroleum), Mohammad Hammad Anjum (WAPDA), Arbaaz Ahmed (Mari Petroleum), Rizwan Ali (Pakistan Air Force), Abdul Manan (Sui Southern), Umar Bhatta (WAPDA), Rana Abdul Waheed (WAPDA) , Ghazanfar Ali (Mari Hetrolium), Mohammad Salman (WAPDA), Roman Khan (WAPDA), Moin Shakeel (WAPDA), Ali Shan (Sui Southern), Junaid Manzoor (National Bank), Ejaz Ahmed (WAPDA) Abdul Hanan Shahid (WAPDA) , Ahmed Nadeem (Mari Petroleum), Noheez Zahid (National Bank), Rana Sohail Riaz (Sui Southern) and Muneeb-ur-Rehman, Goalkeeper (Sui Southern) Names of officials: Olympian Khawaja Junaid (Camp Manager), Sigfried Ekman (Head Coach), Ajmal Khan Lodhi, Olympian Wasim Ahmed and Olympian Sameer Hussain( Assistant Coaches), Imran Shah and Imran Butt (Goal Keeping Coach), Nadeem Lodhi (Video Analyst), Adeel Akhtar and Mohammad Aslam (Physiotherapist)

Sports Bulletin Report LAHORE:-Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) has called 15-player to join the training camp aiming to prepare the national squad for forthcoming five-a-side hockey tournament that will be taken place in Switzerland. Tournament will start on June 4, 2022 in Lausanne, Switzerland. According to an official of PHF, all 15 selected players for the training camp have been instructed to report to head coach Olympian Rehan Butt at National Hockey Stadium Lahore by the afternoon of May 8. Olympian Waqas Sharif will be assistant coach. Pakistan team will leave on June 2 for Switzerland. Names of players: Mohammad Waqar (goalkeeper), Haider Manzoor (goalkeeper), Mohibullah Khan, Omar Mustafa, Mohammad Ehtesham, Hassan Amin, Aqeel Ahmed, Tazeem Al Hassan, Abdul Rehman, Murtaza Yaqoob, Mohammad Afraz, Arshad Liaqat,  Abuzar, Shahzeb Khan, Mohsin Hassan

Sports Bulletin Report BARCELONA (Spain):-Spain defeated Pakistan 5-3 in the last fixture of the Europe tour of the Green Shirts and leveled the two-match series 1-1, as Pakistan had won the first match 4-1 that played at Barcelona, Spain. In the first half, Spain were leading 1-0. Later in the second half of the game, Mubashir Ali and Mohammad Rizwan scored one goal each with the help of a short corner for Pakistan while Rana Waheed scored a field goal. The Spanish team scored two more goals and defeated Pakistan by five goals to three.