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| Last updated at 8:56 AM on 29/06/08 |
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Pakistan coach Ahmed Chadrhy shouts instructions to his players during their game against the Czech Republic Thursday afternoon during the 2008 World Junior Ball Hockey championships.— Photo by Keith Gosse/The Telegram |
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Ball hockey: Pakistan style 
WORLD JUNIOR BALL HOCKEY Sport gaining recognition in south asian country
KENN OLIVER
The Telegram
When you think of nations where hockey - be it the ice, ball or street variety - is gaining in popularity Pakistan probably doesn't come to mind.
But it's not totally unbelievable that a nation of field hockey enthusiasts - the national team has four world cups and three Olympic gold medals in the turfed sport - would be one to adopt another version of their national sport.
And, as it turns out, they're pretty good.
In 2007, a five-year-old Pakistani men's team captured the B-Pool at the 7th World Championship last June in Duesseldorf and Ratingen, Germany by beating, of all teams, the U.S.A. 5-2 in the championship game.
One of the members of that team, Ahmed Chaudhry, is the coach of the Pakistani Ball Hockey Federation's entry in this weekend's world junior ball hockey championship at Mile One Centre in St. John's.
"They have no concept of this sport, they don't really know what this hockey is. They always thought of it as played in a cold environment," Chaudhry explains of how hockey - our version of it - is viewed in Pakistan. "Our federation has really opened some eyes up to a new sport.
"It's gaining recognition there and they're very receptive to it."
Unlike the rest of the teams pounding the floor and wristing bright orange balls at Mile One this weekend, the Pakistani team is made up of Canadians. All the team's members live in either Montreal or the Greater Toronto Area.
But Chaudhry says the federation only requires players to have a heritage connection to the home country in order to represent the nation.
"All of our players have heritage there, either their mother or father are from Pakistan or they themselves were born there. As long as there is some link to the country.
"A lot of them follow the senior team and actually have aspirations of one day playing on (it)," Chaudhry explains.
The plan, ultimately, is to develop more and more hockey talent in Pakistan.
"Our hope is to bring some guys directly from Pakistan, but the sport hasn't picked up that much yet.
"Look for this team in the next five years to get some homegrown talent."
Committed group
Team Pakistan was a late entry into this world juniors after Austria dropped out.
"We got a call three to four months back and we had to put a team together in two months," says Chaudhry adding they didn't field the most skilled team, but a fiercely committed one. "One guy lost 50-pounds in three months getting ready for this tournament. In a two month span, what these guys have accomplished... we're very proud of them."
In 2001, Team Pakistan's first world ball hockey championship, they were dealt a beating by the Czech men's squad. They scored one goal in that game and today the ball sits in the president of the federation's hockey shrine in Pakistan. The junior edition of Team Pakistan didn't win a game in the prelimary round, suffering their worst defeat, again, at the hands of the Czech Republic, 12-1. But the loss to the Czechs, and that lonely goal scored by Safraz Motala, could be a sign of things to come in Pakistan ball hockey.
"We kept that ball, too."
koliver@thetelegram.com
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29/06/08
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