NEW DELHI: The Fourth Junior World Cup Hockey Tournament played at Ipoh in Malaysia has hammered yet another nail in the coffin of sub continental hockey.
Pakistan, representing the subcontinent (Indian juniors had failed to even qualify for the World Cup), and even favored to win the world cup fell flat on its face, unaware against the sturdy Australians in the semifinal. The West Germans on the other hand, the proud winners of the Junior World Cup for the third time in succession proved to be head and shoulders above the test of the opposition in the tournament,
In the group matches itself; the Germans had sounded the warning notes to the other teams. They virtually blasted all the opposition in their group (except Australia) and scored 32 goals to the five that were scored against them. The Germans topped Group A and entered the semifinals along with the Australian team.
In Group B the Pakistani team was also in devastating form and dazzled to win all of their five group matches to secure the top position, Only South Korea, beaten by Pakistan 5Oat New Delhi in the final of the World Cup qualifying tournament (Asian Zone) proved to be bitter competitors for them and the Pakistanis just scraped home with a 43 score line, But the nippy Koreans who were playing in the World Cup for the first time had enough guts to beat more established teams from England and the USSR to qualify for the semis along with Pakistan.
Pakistan who had won the inaugural World Cup in 1979 and finished third in the latter two World Cups could not have thought of meeting their third successive Waterioo in the semifinals. Supremely confident of their success against Australia, they started well by taking a 21 lead in the first half. But the aggressive play of the Australians caught them on the wrong foot and they found themselves trailing 24 in the late second half. The last ditch efforts by them produced the third goal but it was all too late in the day. The jubilation of ‘Australians was like acid being poured into their ears, They were truly brought down to earth and though they beat South Korea 62 to take the third place, it was small consolation.
After all, it was virtually their senior team playing in the tournament. All the eleven players are part of their senior team ‘as well, nine of them being Olympians With players like Shahbaz, Qamar Ibrahim, Tarikh Sheikh in their forward line and goalkeeper Mansur under the bar, constituting the backbone of the senior national team, the loss was an utter disgrace.
That it would be a nightmare for the players was ensured by the utterances of Sami Khan, manager of the Pakistan team and the unrelenting and merciless criticism of the team in the Pakistan media. Mansur the goalkeeper was particularly sorted out for battering by his manager. He was described as the sole cause of their defeat and the way he has been made the scapegoat, it seems his playing days with Pakistan are over.
Where Pakistanis were disgraced the Germans and Australians scaled new heights, These teams have shown the depth and abundance of hockey talent in their countries so important a factor for any country striving for the status of a world-beaters, So, it is no wonder that these countries are at the top of the hockey world.
‘The final between these two countries was a closely contested affair. The Germans had beaten S. Korea, 62, in the semifinals and the Australians had reached the final by upsetting the mighty Pakistan. So both teams had entered the field with great confidence. The stipulated time and the 30 minutes of extra time failed to break the 11 deadlock between the teams. The Germans clinched the issue 42 via tiebreaker. It was a tribute to their fine display throughout the tournament. They scored 45 goals overall and received only 10 in reply. Andreas Becker the scourge of defenders, scored 14 goals alone and was adjudged the Player of the Tournament.
Another feather in the West Germans cap was that they also won the “Fair play Trophy”. It was incredible that in the entire tournament not one of their players indulged in foul play and got penalized. They received no green or yellow cards. On the other hand, Pakistani players received as many as seven yellow and 10 green cards.
These simple statistics are a pointer to the way, the European countries have not taken to hockey, studying various technicalities in depth and improving every aspect of their game. On the contrary it is also a pointer Guards the desperate measures the sub continental players are resorting to for not being able to match the superior physical fitness and greater speed of their Europeans counterparts.
These are ominous signs for sub continental hockey. The junior European sides ‘are not able to beat our senior national teams. The wheel of fortune was turned full circle, It has taken decades for the Europeans to swing the balance of hockey power in their favor, They are not going to surrender their lead so easily. And for the moment or in the near future they can sit pretty, at the top as they know they have left their tormentors of yesteryear way behind to lick their wounds.
Article extracted from this publication >> September 22, 1989
