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.www.telecomasia.net
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.www.telecomasia.net
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.
Ex-Olympian Tauqir Dar also expressed surprise at the development.
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
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.
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.
Incidentally, the organisers of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup have excluded defending champions Japan too from the upcoming edition.
