By Ijaz Chaudhry
It was Tanvir Dar Hockey Academy’s third tour of Europe in as many years. The Lahore based academy visited Holland, Germany and Belgium, three major hockey nations of the continent.
But it was different this time. On their previous two sojourns, the Dar HA played most of the matches against the age group sides. The highlight was the MOP international junior tournament in Holland won easily by them each time. This time around, the academy president, Olympic gold medalist Taqueer Dar took a bold decision. Almost all the matches were scheduled against the Men’s first teams of clubs playing in the national leagues of their countries, mostly in the top tier.
The opponents included several big names. In Belgium, they encountered KHC Dragons, who had recently created history, finishing third in the EHL (European Hockey League), easily the most competitive club tournament in the world- the first ever Belgian team to reach the podium.
In Germany, it was a mix bag. Apart from the Bundesliga sides, they came face to face with some age group sides. However, these youth teams were no pushovers. They included the German junior champions, HTC Uhelnhorst Mulheim who presently have the most players in the national youth squads, and the last tie of the tour was against Monchengladbach, the current table toppers of the German youth league.
And the lads from the Lahore based academy surprised everyone with excellent results. Of the total 14 matches in the three countries, Tanvir Dar Hockey Academy won 10, drew three and lost just one. They played some stunning games. Against the formidable Klein Zwitserland at The Hague, Dar HA was 0-4 in arrears just before the half time. With the Pakistani ambassador in Holland, Mr Aizaz Chaudhry in attendance among the large number of Pakistani expats, the match appeared a no contest. But the young lads staged an escape act of Hedonistic proportions to not only equalize but even take the lead- the jaw dropping match ended 6-6. Against Orange Zwart, they twice came from behind to emerge 3-2 victors. The Orange Zwart coach, Michel Van Den Hauvell, the former coach of the national team of Pakistan, commented,” I never expected such a display from an academy side. “In Germany, they overcame Krefeld who had finished 7th in this year’s Bundesliga. One of the most anticipated ties was against the youth side of HTC Uhelenhorst Mulheim, the German national junior champions. They had defeated Krefeld 8-2 a week before Dar HA beat those 2-1. However, the academy boys giving an outstanding display swept aside the highly fancied outfit by a whopping 5-1 margin.
Keeping up the tradition of last two years, the Tanvir Dar Hockey Academy officials presented all their hosts with a number of mementoes. After every match, three best players of the opposing team were given an international standard Pakistani hockey stick of famous brands, and the manager and both the umpires received the beautiful academy shields. Plus excellent hand-woven Pakistani carpets were handed over to the opposing teams for their club houses. So the Dar academy won friends wherever they went.
A very productive and memorable tour, for the Dar Hockey academy from many aspects.
