FINALLY, there is some relief for Pakis-tan hockey fans, particularly for those who saw and felt the glory and pride of the past.

After a gap of eight years, Pakistan will be returning to the FIH men’s World Cup later this year.

The former four-time champions made the global event after reaching the final of the World Cup qualifier held earlier this month in Ismailia, Egypt.

Though the Ammad Butt-led Pakistan were outplayed by England in the final 4-1, the qualification for the decider gave the Green-shirts a dream ticket to the Aug 15-30 World Cup — which will be co-hosted by the Netherlands and Belgium — to showcase their skills and try earnestly to reach the summit by competing against the world’s best teams.

Now should a sincere Pakistan fan expect — or say fantasise — the national team to clinch the world title? While looking at the unspeakably miserable state of affairs, both on and off the field, Pakistan hockey has gone through over the past three decades, only an extremely high level of optimism can urge one to do so.

Great Samiullah Khan, nicknamed Flying Horse, who was named chief selector last month by the ad-hoc regime of the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF), thinks otherwise.

“[Realistically] our purpose is not to go for victory at all in this year’s World Cup.

I, as chief of the selection committee, have suggested to the PHF to participate in this World Cup and only improve our team’s [world] ranking [by trying to win some games],” Samiullah said in an exclusive interview to Dawn.

“[In lead-up to the World Cup], we will first look to reach the top ten rankings by defeating relatively lower-ranked teams like Malaysia, Japan, South Korea and China,” the 74-year-old added.

“Then in the World Cup, we will try to reduce the [loss] margins against major opponents like Holland, Belgium, Australia, Germany, England, Spain and India.

The players [of the national team] for the World Cup will more or less remain the same with one or two changes possible.” Answering a question regarding Pakistan’s poor show in the Ismailia qualifier final, two-time World Cup winner Samiullah spoke realistically.

“Pakistan’s world ranking during the past 15 years has remained quite low and currently it is 12th while England are fourth.

Therefore, one should not be surprised at the result of the [Ismailia] final as there is a considerable difference between the rankings of both the teams which are decided on the performance of the past two years.

“[Therefore], I think the loss in Ismailia decider was not that bad when compared to our team’s poor show in the FIH Pro League [prior to the World Cup qualifier] in Australia where we lost all games [to tougher opponents] by bigger margins.” Answering a question, Samiullah insisted that only world-class players could help a team win global titles.

“Only a team having six, seven world-class players can reach the top two, three spots in any international competition, as Pakistan had during the 1960s and 70s,” he said.

“Pakistan is the pioneer in world hockey; we introduced the FIH World Cup, Champions Trophy and Asia Cup in the game all of which continue to this day.

“Unfortunately, compared to today’s standards in the world our players are lagging behind.” COMMERCIALISATION CRUCIAL Replying to a question on how commercialisation can lift Pakistan hockey, the legendary player said that the team’s ranking and government’s patronisation were the key elements.

“Every professional field, including sports, has been commercialised completely in the present era,” Samiullah noted.

“Top eight hockey-playing countries like Australia, Germany, Holland, England, Spain and....