But the latest setback is part of a sequence of disasters the national sport has suffered. It comes barely a month after the national team failed to qualify for next year’s World Cup.

Pakistan were in danger of exclusion from the Commonwealth Games ever since the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) split into two factions earlier this year. One was recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) while the other was backed by the state-run Pakistan Sports Board (PSB).

The Pakistan Hockey Federation ignored the IOC-backed faction of the POA because it relied heavily on the state-run PSB. As a result, it showed no interest in sending an entry to the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.u00a0