| Author: |
Sydney Friskin |
| Publisher: |
Oxford University Press |
Description:
The game of hockey, in its primitive stage, dates back to the pre-Christian era when two competing teams attempted to push a ball inside the goal post with the help of their sticks. But the sport that we know of, in its present shape, was developed in the last century, when the first set of rules for the game was developed in England in 1883. Like cricket, football, squash and other occidental games hockey was introduced to the subcontinent by the British, and well before sportsmen in undivided India could challenge the mother country successfully in any such game hockey players of the region gained supremacy over not just Britain but all hockey playing nations. Well before independence the region become unbeatable. In those days India could beat other hockey playing nations by what they call a tennis score.
Review:
After partition local players and those who migrated to the new country formed the team that first represented Pakistan in the 1948 Olympics. Some of them had contributed to the success of the Indian team in the Olympics. Since then Pakistan team's performance has been chequered. Time and again they have emerged as an unbeatable side. But there have also been moments of disappointment. Be that as it may, barring squash, there is no game where Pakistan has had such an impressive array of victories.
| DesiStore # |
PBH00811 |
| ISBN |
0-19-577807-3 |
| Edition |
First |
| Year |
1997 |
| Pages |
186 |
| Weight (kg) |
.585 |
| Shipping Weight (lbs) |
1.47 |
| Pics (color) |
12 |
| Pics (b/w) |
42 |
| Dimensions |
25x19x2 cm |
| HB/PB |
Hard Back |
|
Surely, such a rich and eventful history of the game merited recording in the form of a book. Until the publication of Going for Gold: Pakistan at Hockey we had nothing beyond individual pieces good, bad or indifferent that have appeared in our newspaper columns from time to time, No book of any standard, particularly in English, was ever attempted. Feeling the necessity of work of this nature, Oxford University Press commissioned the world renowned hockey journalist, Sydney Friskin to do one on the subject. Thanks to the reporting of international hockey events that Friskin has done on regular basis for Dawn, he is no stranger to the followers of the game in this country. His analysis of the game has few peers at least in English language journaIism. Honoured by the International Hockey Federation in l996 with the president's Award for his outstanding service to the game, Friskin has been covering the game not just for Dawn but also for the The Times, London, and for Agence France-Presse or AFP, as it is commonly known.
While tracing the history of the game in Pakistan in Going for Gold: Pakistan at Hockey, the author reveals that until the early seventies hockey players and hockey enthusiasts had to wait for the Olympics when the top ranking teams of the world locked horns after every four years. Pakistan, as he rightly says, came up with the idea of holding World Cup on the lines of the football World Cup held every four years. Initially, it was supposed to be held every alternate year, but later its time pattern became the Same as the soccer World Cup. Friskin gives full marks to Pakistan and Air Marshall Noor Khan, the President of the Pakistan Hockey Federation and the MD of PIA to pay the airfare and hotel expenses of the participating teams.
The first tournament was scheduled to be held in Lahore in 1971 but the host country didn't approve of an Indian team playing on its soil, so the venue had to be shifted to Barcelona, where Pakistan won the tournament. Of the eight tournaments Pakistan won four times. Coincidentally, the 1998 World Cup is on these days and if they win this time, which at this stage appears difficult, their record will become almost unassailable. The Pakistanis have always been among medals excepting for their second outing in 1973, when they got the fourth position, and 13 years later at the World Cup in London when they ranked abysmally low 11th, just a notch above their traditional rivals.
Pakistan also played a key-role in the setting up of Champions Trophy and the trophy was presented again by PIA. The first tournament, with hockey players from India among the participating teams, was held seven years later in Lahore, Pakistan once again won the inaugural tournament. History repeated itself when Pakistan won the first Asia Cup.
Friskin writes about the tournaments that Pakistan played in an interesting narrative style, couched in simple and effective language. For hockey fans and journalists alike, his account of events is worth referring to.
He writes about the Pakistani junior hockey teams as well and informs us that in the first Junior Asia Cup the Pakistanis beat a team of youngsters from Macao 55-0, which was many a shade better than South Koreans beating the same team 30-0 and India 32-0. The two-page chapter on woman's hockey has nothing much to say, because there is really nothing much to talk about.
The author also devotes one chapter to the changes in the rules of the game. The statistics, compiled by Majid Khan, a veteran sports journalist, make the publication a good ready reference for those writing on the sport. These pertain to the appearances of individual players in Olympics and the two principal tournaments. Then there are tabulated accounts of the country's performance in each tournament.
The volume is illustrated with pictures, which could have been better printed. But the one major minus point about the book is its price, if the publishers had priced this jubilee series volume reasonably, it would have attracted more buyers.
All said, Going for Gold: Pakistan at Hockey makes interesting and informative reading.
Going For Gold: Pakistan at Hockey
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