HOCKEY: HOPE AND REALITY

Pakistan’s hockey team won the bronze medal at the 2026 Asian Games. Is this satisfactory or unsatisfactory? The answer to this is not straightforward. A medal is always welcome. Pakistan failed to win a medal at the previous two Asian Games. Yet, for a country with an enviable Asian Games record of eight gold medals — compared to India’s five — a bronze hardly represents a return to the top. There is another, more important, way of looking at it. The Asian Games winner earns direct qualification for the 2028 Olympics. Pakistan has missed that opportunity and will now have to negotiate the Olympic qualifying process in early 2028. Sixteen teams will compete in two eight-team tournaments for four or five Olympic berths. That is a daunting prospect for a country that has failed to qualify for the last three Olympics. So, purely in terms of results, there appears to have been little progress.

But results alone do not tell the whole story. Pakistan’s hockey team managed to snag a bronze at the recently concluded Asian Games. What does it tell us about the trajectory of Pakistan Hockey? ASIAN GAMES ASSESSED Pakistan began the Asian Games ranked third in Asia and 14th in the world, behind India, which is ranked eighth in the world and Malaysia, ranked 12th. In its pool games, Pakistan had a comfortable passage against the lower-ranked sides, beating Thailand 9-0, Uzbekistan 5-1, China 3-0 and Oman 7-2. Malaysia was the only genuinely testing opponent. It was a pulsating contest, with the lead changing hands repeatedly. Pakistan led 4-3 with only four minutes remaining and, on the run of play, deserved to win. All four Pakistani goals came from penalty corners. Pakistan earned eight penalty corners; Malaysia had only three but converted all of them. Malaysia created only four…