Field hockey in Pakistan

Field hockey in Pakistan
Field hockey in Pakistan
Country	Pakistan
Governing body	Pakistan Hockey Federation
National team	Pakistan
National competitions
	National Hockey Championship
International competitions
	List Olympics: 3 (1960, 1968, 1984); World Cup: 4 (1971, 1978, 1982, 1994); ;

Field hockey in Pakistan refers to two teams, the Pakistan men's national field hockey team and the Pakistan women's national field hockey team.

History

The game of field hockey was originally brought to areas of now Pakistan during the British Raj, and like cricket, it became a popular sport among the local population. The Pakistan Hockey Federation came into being in 1948,^[1] following the independence of Pakistan in 1947. Prior to this, players from what is now Pakistan had competed internationally alongside players from what is now India. In the beginning, the federation's membership included the provincial hockey federations of West Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Bahawalpur, East Bengal, and the Pakistani Armed Forces Sports Board.

Pakistan played their first international game in London when they defeated Belgium 2-1 at the 14th Olympic Games on 2 August 1948.^[2] The first president of PHF was Ghazanfar Ali Khan, with Baseer Ali Sheikh as the Honorary Secretary.^[3]The Pakistan national side soon established a strong reputation in international competition, helping to maintain interest in the game in Pakistan which assisted the growth of the federation. However, no full-time central office or secretariat, as such, was established until the 1960s. The office of the Pakistan Hockey Federation, located at the National Hockey Stadium was developed into a secretariat in 1971. It was during the second term as president of Air Marshal (Retd) Nur Khan from 1978 that Pakistani hockey entered a golden age. National senior, national Junior and women hockey teams were all competing internationally. On the personal initiative of Air Marshal (Retd) Nur Khan, the FIH introduced the World Cup and the Champions Trophy, which rated among field hockey's major international tournaments alongside the Olympics.^[2]

However, the 1976 Olympics in Montreal had seen the introduction of artificial turf to international hockey competitions. Pakistan was unable to build many artificial turf pitches compared to the European sides, and thus the strength of the national side began declining slowly.^[2]^[4]