Sports Bulletin

SPORTS DESK ISLAMABAD (December 22, 2020):-As we approach the end of a challenging year, the International Hockey Federation (FIH) can confirm that Belgium men and the Netherlands women will finish 2020 sitting top of the FIH World Rankings. In January, FIH introduced its new match-based model for the calculation of the FIH World Rankings, with the FIH Hockey Pro League matches that were played in early part of the year seeing regular fluctuations in the standings before the COVID-19 global health pandemic brought the competition and all international hockey to a standstill in March. The brief but wonderful return of the competition between September and November saw further exchanges of points between the men’s and women’s national teams of Belgium, Germany, Netherlands and Great Britain. The Netherlands (2631.99 points) are 457 ranking points ahead second placed Argentina (2174.61) at the top of the women’s FIH World Rankings, with Germany (2054.28) occupying third position, climbing one place following their FIH Hockey Pro League results against Belgium in September. Australia (2012.89) finish the year in fourth place, with England / Great Britain (1952.74) and New Zealand (1818.98) fifth and sixth respectively. Spain (7th place - 1802.13), Ireland (8th place - 1583.09), India (9th place – 1543.00) and China (10th place – 1521.00) complete the top ten. In the men’s FIH World Rankings, reigning world and European champions Belgium (2496.88 points) sit at the summit in front of 2019 FIH Hockey Pro League winners Australia (2nd place - 2385.70), Netherlands (3rd place – 2257.96) and India (4th place – 2063.78). Olympic champions Argentina (1967.39) are in fifth, followed by Germany (6th place – 1944.34), England / Great Britain (7th place – 1743.77), New Zealand (8th place – 1575.00), Spain (9th place – 1559.32) and Canada (10th place – 1417.37). The rankings calculations model that FIH introduced on 1st January 2020 moved away from the previous tournament-based rankings system to a dynamic, match-based method where opposing teams exchange points in official, FIH sanctioned games. The number of points exchanged depends on the result of the match, the relative ranking of the teams and the importance of the match. While the impact on the number of international matches being played in 2020 was dramatically reduced due to the pandemic, FIH Sport and Development Director Jon Wyatt felt the new approach to the FIH World Rankings was having a positive impact.  “Clearly with so few matches played this year compared to what we would expect in any normal year, the movement in rankings, now that we are using a match-based system, was not as great as it will be”, said Wyatt. “However, even in the limited number of matches that were played we saw the system working well, with points being exchanged that resulted in some movement up and down the rankings table after each match. We are all looking forward to seeing the dynamism of the system working to its full potential once the complete programme of international matches restarts again, so that the rankings will reflect the current form of each team. Let’s hope that’s not too far away.”

ABDUL JABBAR FAISAL ISLAMABAD (November 17, 2020):-National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), Sui Southern, Pakistan WAPDA and Pakistan Navy reached into the semifinals of the ongoing 66th National Hockey Championship 2020, as the semifinal would be played on Thursday at Ayub Park Hockey Ground Rawalpindi. NBP will take on Sui Southern in the first semifinal of the top national hockey fixture while Pakistan WAPDA will meet Pakistan Navy in the second semifinal, as the final will be played on Friday as same venue between the winners of both semifinals. On Tuesday, Pakistan Navy, Pakistan Air Force (PAF), Punjab, WAPDA and Sui Southern have won their league matches after beating their respective opponents. Results (Day-9):- Game 1: Pakistan Navy beat Mari Petroleum 1-0 Ali Sher (1)                                                                                                                                                       Game 2: Pakistan Air Force beat Pakistan Police 4-1 PAF: Mohammad Rizwan (2), Umer Mustafa (1), Abdul Rehman (1) Police: Abdul Ahad (1) Game 3: Punjab beat Port Qasim 3-0 Punjab: Mohammad Zain (1) Mohammad Ammar (1), Hanan Khan (1) Game 4: Pakistan WAPDA beat National Bank of Pakistan 2-1 WAPDA: Tausiq Khan (1), Mohammad Sohail (1) NBP: Mohammad Abu Bakar Game 5: Sui Southern beat Pakistan Army 1-0 Sui Southern: Zeeshan Ali (1)  

ABDUL JABBAR FAISAL ISLAMABAD (November 14, 2020):-Pakistan Navy thrashed Pakistan Police 7-1 in the second match of the day seven of the 66th National Hockey Championship 2020 at Ayub Park Hockey Ground Rawalpindi on Saturday. Ali Sher, Mohammad Imad and Mohammad Sowair scored each two goals for the Pakistan Navy while Mohammad Haris scored single goal. Results (Day-7): Game-1: Mari Petroleum Company Limited (MPCL) beat Port Qasim Authority (PQA) 4-2 MPCL: Mohammad Umair (1), Mohammad Wasim (1), Owais Ahmed (1), Mohammad Arbaz (1) PQA: Mohammad Abu Zar (1), Mohammad Taha (1)    Game-2: Pakistan Navy beat Pakistan Police 7-1 Navy: Ali Sher (2), Mohammad Imad (2), Mohammad Sowair (2), Mohammad Haris (1) Police: Mohsin Khan (1) Game-3: Pakistan WAPDA beat Pakistan Air Force (POA) 1-0 WAPDA: Salam Razzak Game-4: Punjab beat Pakistan Army 3-2 Punjab: Owais-ur-Rehman (2), Hanan Ahmed (1) Army: Ali Haider (1), Mohammad Afzal (1) Game-5: National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) vs SSGPL (0-0)

ABDUL JABBAR FAISAL ISLAMABAD (November 12, 2020):-Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGCL) overpowered 7-1 in the 66th National Hockey Championship 2020 at Ayub Park Hockey Ground Rawalpindi on Thursday. Results (Day-6): Game-1: Ports Qasim beat Pakistan Police 4-1 Ports Qasim: Sami Khan (1), Abu Zar (1), Hammad (1), Taha Khan (1) Police: Mohsin Shah Game-2: SSGCL beat Pakistan Air Force 7-1 Mubasher Ali (5), Ahmed Nadeem (1), Ali Sher (1) PAF: Rizwan Ali (1) Game-3: Pakistan WAPDA beat Mari Petroleum 3-1 WAPDA: Mohammad Ejaz (1), Aleem Bilal (1), Aleem Usman (1) Mari Petroleum; Tanzeem-ul-Hasan (1) Game-4: NBP beat Pakistan Army 4-2 NBP: Arsalan Qadair (2), Bilal Qadir (1), Aamir Ali (1) Army: Wasim Khan (1), Farhan Ahmed (1) Game-5: Pakistan Navy beat Punjab 3-1 Navy: Nauman (1), Mohammad Akbar (1), Hammad Khan (1) Punjab: Zain (1)

ABDUL JABBAR FAISAL ISLAMABAD (November 11, 2020):-Pakistan WAPDA defeated Pakistan Army 4-3 in the 66th National Hockey Championship 2020 at Ayub Park Hockey Ground Rawalpindi on Wednesday. Aleem Bilal scored two goals for the winners. Results (Day-5): Game-1: Pakistan WAPDA beat Pakistan Army 4-3 WAPDA: Aleem Bilal (2), Aleem Usman (1), Tasawar Abbas (1) Pakistan Army: Waseem Akram (1), Mohammad Farhan (1), Ali Haider (1) Game-2: National Bank of Pakistan beat Port Qasim 8-1 NBP: Arsalan Qadir (2), Bilal Qadir (2), Mohammad Dilbar (1), Shan irshad (1), Mohammad Faizan (1), Mohammad Abu Bakar (1) Port Qasim: Mohammad Sami (1) Game-3: SSGCL beat Pakistan Navy 4-0 Mubasir Ali (2), Ahmed Nadeem (1), Ghazanfar Ali (1) Game-4: Mari Petroleum Company Limited beat Pakistan Police 6-1 MPCL: Arbaz Ahmed (3), Abdul Rehman (2), Umair Sattar (1) Police: Umair (1) Game-5: Pakistan Air Force beat Punjab 3-0 PAF: Abdul Rehman (2), Numan Khan (1)

ABDUL JABBAR FAISAL ISLAMABAD (November 9, 2020):- The National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) outclassed Pakistan Police 11-0 in single sided affair in the hockey match of the ongoing 66th National Hockey Championship 2020 at Ayub Park Hockey Ground Rawalpindi on Monday. Dilbar Khan netted the ball five times during the 60 minutes of game for the NBP. Also, Sui Souhtern, Mari Pertoleum and Pakistan WAPDA registered their wins in the top national hockey fixture. The match between Pakistan Army and Pakistan Air Forces ended in draw, as the players of both teams failed to score any goal in the match. Results (Day-4): Game-1: Sui Southern beat Port Qasim 6-0 Mubashir ali (2), Ahmed Nadeem (1), Ali Shan (1), Moen Shakil (1), Mohammad Adnan (1) Game-2: Mari Petroleum beat Punjab 1-0 Aitsham Khan (1) Game-3: NBP beat Pakistan Police 11-0 Dilbar Khan (5), Aamir Ali (1), Junaid Manzoor (1), Mohammad Abu Bakar (1), Nokhaiz Khan (1), Bilal Qadir (1), Shan Irshad (1) Game-4: WAPDA beat Pakistan Navy 3-2 WAPDA: Rana Waheed (2), Aleem Bilal (1) Navy: Mohammad Sultan (1), Mohammad Shahbaz (1) Game-5: Pakistan Army vs Pakistan Air Force 0-0

ABDUL JABBAR FAISAL ISLAMABAD (November 8, 2020):-Hosts Mari Petroleum defeated Pakistan Army 2-1 in the 66th National Hockey Championship 2020 at Ayub Park Hockey Ground Rawalpindi on Sunday. National Bank of Punjab (NBP), Sui Southern, WAPDA and Pakistan Navy also posted victories in the top national hockey show piece after beating their respective opponents at same venue. Former Director General Mari Petroleum Lt. General (Retd) Ishfaq Nadeem and Lt. General (Retd) Asghar Nawaz graced the 4th match of the day as chief gust in which Mari Petroleum outclassed Pakistan Army 2-1 in the well-contested 60 minutes game. At this occasion former international players Manzoor Hussain Junior, Ayaz Mehmood, Nasir Ali, Waseem Feroz and Rana Mujahid were also present. Results (Day-3): Game-1: NBP beat Punjab 2-1 Aamir Ali and Mohammad Abu Bakar scored each goal for NBP while Hanan Ali netted the ball for Punjab. Game-2: Sui Southern outclass Pakistan Police 9-0 Ahmed Nadeem (3), Mubashir Ali (2), Ali Shan (2) Mohammad Rizwan (1), Mohammad Zeeshan (1) Game-3: WAPDA overcome Port Qasim 6-0 Aleem Bilal (3), Rana Waheed (1), Sohail Anjum (1), Amjad Ali (1) Game-4: Mari Petroleum defeat Pakistan Army 2-1 Umair Sattar (2) for Mari Petroleum, Mohammad Arsalan (1) Game-5: Pakistan Navy stun Pakistan Air Force 3-0 Babar Hussain (1), Hammad Ali (1), Numan Janjua (1)   

ABDUL JABBAR FAISAL ISLAMABAD (October 24, 2020):-President, Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF), Brig (Retd) Khalid Sajjad Khokhar has revealed that around 11 companies had shown their interest regarding the sponsorship deal with the national game field hockey that might help the uplift game standard in the country and to organize national and international events as well. He met with the former Olympians and former International hockey players in Karachi including Olympian Hanif Khan, Olympian Hassan Sardar, Olympian Kaleemullah, Olympian Kamran Ashraf, Olympian Kashif Jawad, Olympian Danish Kaleem, International Safdar Abbas, International Jan Mohammad, International Mohammad Ali, International Haider Hussian, International Mubashir Mukhtar, Ramzan Jamali Secretary Sindh Hockey Association and Gulfraz Khan aiming to share the different aspects of hockey. On this occasion, Khokhar informed to former players, “As many as 11 companies have contacted PHF and showed expression of interest regarding the sponsorship dealing with the national game hockey since the PHF has given the invitation to bid to the private sector for sponsoring the national game in different heads,” he said. He further said that PHF had also finalized the plan to establish a hockey excellence school in Lahore for the training of emerging and talented hockey players selected through a talent hunt scheme across the country along with coaches, umpires, and technical officials. Besides urged all four provincial governments through the ministry of IPC to establish hockey academies in all four provinces because the school and college hockey have collapsed in our country and the alternative plan is to establish the hockey academies in all four provinces to groom the national game at the grass-root level. High-performance physical trainer from Australia Danial Berry would be looking after the physical aspect of this Center along with all the coaches from senior and junior shall be part of this elite hockey Centers. President PHF said that the junior hockey team which would participate in the Junior Asia Cup 2021, in January, would travel to Bangladesh some days before the final event so that the Green Shirts used to acclimatize the weather and play some practice matches with other local and foreign hockey teams. He said that before leaving the country the junior hockey team would also play a series with the national senior hockey team players, of which schedule would be finalized after the national hockey championship. “PHF is interested in laying mini Austro turf in those cities and towns where the game of hockey regularly played so that our children start their game from synthetic turfs and used to play advanced hockey on a modern setup to combat the challenges of international hockey. Sindh government has laid Astroturf in various cities of the province it is a great job and there is a need to utilize these facilities and organize regular hockey to get the benefits of these synthetic turfs, “he maintained. He hoped that Pakistan senior and junior hockey teams training camp would be organized in those cities of Sindh provinces where these synthetic turfs had been laid and where hostel room’s facilities would also be available. Five Hockey World Cup events would be organized in two years and Pakistan would have to prepare for this big event. The establishment of mini turfs would help to establish our hockey on a strong foundation and preparation of international events. President PHF said that due to the efforts of PHF present management the 30 years old issue of the lease of Abdul Sattar Edhi hockey stadium has been resolved and the Pakistan army has given the lease of hockey stadium for a longer period. The PHF president further said that the 31st National Senior Women's Hockey Championship will be organized in Peshawar in the month of December 2020. President PHF said that the new hockey calendar for 2021 would be announced soon and also informed that the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) hockey championship would be organized in March 2021 at Army Hockey Stadium, Rawalpindi, and the Chief of Naval Staff (CONS) hockey championship would be held at Abdul Sattar Edhi Hockey Stadium, Karachi in the month of June 2021. The PHF president did not optimistic that Pakistan senior and junior hockey teams would play bilateral hockey series or international hockey matches with foreign hockey teams in near future due to the second wave of COVID 19. He further said that PHF has planned to given central contact to Pakistan hockey team players to resolve their financial issues.  

SPORTS NEWS ISLAMABAD (October 22, 2020):-The 66th Edition of the National Senior Hockey Championship will be played at Mari Petroleum Hockey Stadium, Ayub Park, Rawalpindi from November 3 to 15, 2020, as all the top national teams will take part in the championship. According to the ranking of the 65th National Hockey Championship National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC), Pakistan WAPDA, Pakistan Army, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), Pakistan Navy, Port Qasim and Pakistan Police have already been qualified for the top national hockey fixture. The Championship will be played according to tournament regulations issued by the Federation of International Hockey (FIH), which will be enforced by the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF). Top two teams of the Tray Championship shall be eligible to participate in the 66th edition of the National Senior Hockey Championship.

SPORTS DESK ISLAMABAD (October 21, 2020):-Next week, the national teams of the Netherlands and Great Britain will play their first FIH Hockey Pro League matches for over six months, with two of hockey’s powerhouse nations going head-to-head at the Wagener Stadium in Amstelveen (NED). Taking place on Tuesday 27 and Thursday 29 October, these giants of European hockey will be eager to take to the field after a lengthy and entirely unavoidable lay-off due to the COVID-19 global health pandemic. In the women’s matches, reigning world, European and FIH Hockey Pro League champions the Netherlands take on the nation that pipped them to Olympic gold at Rio 2016. The men’s matches could prove to be anything but predictable, with Great Britain having a marginally better record than the Dutch in recent head-to-heads. Due to the health and safety requirements in relation to the COVID-19 global health pandemic, the famously vociferous Dutch spectators will be unable to attend the upcoming clashes, which will be played behind closed doors. Whilst it will be strange to see this iconic venue without any fans, the excitement, energy and desire from the competing teams should ensure that those tuning in to the global broadcast are in for a real treat.