Pakistan's omission from the 2025 edition of the prestigious Sultan Azlan Shah Cup has sent shockwaves through the country's hockey establishment with Olympians Hasan Sardar, Tauqir Dar, and Imran Butt have lamented the snub, expressing dismay at the opportunity lost by young players. They also blamed the Pakistan Hockey Federation for mishandling things leading to this situation.
Founded in 1983, the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup is Asia's most prestigeous annual invitational hockey tournament. The 2025 edition of the event involves six teams and is scheduled to be played in Ipoh, Malaysia, from November 22 to 29.
It was reported in the media on Wednesday that the Pakistan men's team, despite finishing as runners-up in the previous edition, has been excluded from the 2025 edition of the Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey Cup.
The exclusion was also confirmed on the official website for the tournament which did not include Pakistan among the participating teams. Pakistan has lifted the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup thrice (1999, 2000, 2003) and finished runner-up on seven occasions. In the 2024 edition, Pakistan lost to Japan in the final and ended runner-up.
I am amazed at this development since Pakistan and Malaysia enjoy very cordial relations and our team has always participated and done exceedingly well in the Azlan Shah Cup.
Hasan Sardar, one of the game’s all-time greats who won the gold medal for Pakistan in 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, speaking to Telecom Asia Sport (www.telecomasia.net).
The reason given for the snub, which says PHF owes a debt to Malaysian Federation, is rather ambiguous and we do not know much details on that, but I am sure the PHF has messed up things to face this ouster.
Hasan, who was the Man of the Tournament in the 1982 Hockey World Cup in Mumbai for scoring 11 goals, said
Ex-Olympian Tauqir Dar also expressed surprise at the development.
It is not good for Pakistan’s hockey as well as for the tournament itself, as our country has almost been a regular participant in the Azlan Shah Cup, and last year it also ended up as runner-up after losing the final to Japan.
Dar, a member of the Pakistan team which won the Olympic gold in Los Angeles in 1984 under the captaincy of late forward player Manzoor Junior, said
"It would have been great if Pakistan was there because fans all over the world await the Pak-India clash in all the sports and it was likely that our team would have met India in the tournament which would have been a prime attraction for the fans,” he added.
Dar advised the PHF to contact the FIH and the Asian Hockey Federation as well to plead their case to include their team as it would be a great opportunity for the Pakistani players to hone their skills by playing against the top-ranked teams of the world.
This was an ideal chance for the Pakistan team to play the world’s top-ranked teams and I will suggest that PHF should still try to get entry in the Azlan Cup.
Dar concluded
Former Pakistan goalkeeper Imran Butt, while commenting on Pakistan’s omission from Azlan Shah Cup, said the PHF must come out with a solid explanation for this development and should clarify whether Pakistan received an invitation for the tournament in the first place or not.
If the move to leave out Pakistan from the tournament has been initiated by the Malaysian Hockey Federation, then the PHF should strongly take up this issue with the FIH as well as with the Asian Hockey Federation which is being currently headed by our own Tayyab Ikram Sahab.
Imran, who represented the country in 156 international matches including three World Cups and the London Olympics 2012, said
Pakistan players would have got tremendous exposure in the Azlan Cup because top teams including Germany, Belgium, and India will be participating in it. It is a great setback that our team has been snubbed like this.
Imran, who was part of the Pakistan team that earned a silver medal at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea, said
Meanwhile, PHF secretary Rana Mujahid in a press conference held on Wednesday totally rejected the issues of any dues of MHF being pending with his federation.
The Malaysian Hockey Federation has never lodged any complaint with the PHF about any dues. We have very friendly relations with the MHF.
The secretary told Telecom Asia Sport (www.telecomasia.net).
Incidentally, the organisers of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup have excluded defending champions Japan too from the upcoming edition.