ISLAMABAD - Pakistan hockey team head coach Shahnaz Sheikh refused to accept blame of green shirts dismal show in the World Hockey League Semi-Finals in Antwerp, Belgium and term lack of facilities, poor finishing behind green shirts failure to qualify for the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Talking to The Nation, Shahnaz said: “I have never witnessed such poor finishing. I requested time and again to the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) to take Olympic qualifiers seriously and provide players better facilities, but no heed was paid in this regard. All the other participating teams had reached Belgium at least two weeks prior to the start of the event and played practice matches against each other in quite a few numbers. On the other hand, we managed to reach only two days prior to the start of the event and got just tow practice matches in available time.”
“I emphasized mainly on plenty corner conversion and spent hours in training on improving plenty corners, defense and coordination among players, but the players completely failed to respond. When our players failed to take benefit from the chances that came their way thick and fast, it was quite obvious, the opponents would take advantage from the situation,” he added.
Shahnaz said: “We have to come over from past glory days dreams. Yes, it is true we had won four world cups and three Olympics, but that is past now. The hockey has changed a lot. Belgium had qualified for the Olympics for the first time in 1976, now they are world number 5. All the other teams and countries had given top priority and invested heavily on hockey and especially on players. Without incentives, contracts and dailies, the players had done tremendously well, but for how long one could expect them to keep on showing desired results.
“The government and corporate sector must have to come forward and lend a helping hand to hockey. I had tried my level best with available resources. We had given superb performances in Asian Games and Champions Trophy, but no one bothers to say a few words of appreciation. The players were disheartened because the Prime Minister was time and again requested to spare time and meet with players so that they might get motivation, but all our requests fall on deaf ears,” he added.
Shahnaz said: “It is true that for the very first time after missing world cup last year, Pakistan hockey team would miss Olympics after participating in each Olympic since 1948, but it is also true we had to face lot of difficulties, pathetic condition of Naseer Bunda hockey stadium resulted in 3 or 4 main players injury and we still struggled to replace key players.”
When asked about his future as head coach and whether he would quit, Shahnaz replied: “One or two bad results don’t mean all the good work done by me and my supporting staff is over. I would remain in hockey and fully prepared to relinquish the post. I demand Prime Minister to order complete postmortem and culprits must be taken to task.”
“Without providing facilities and lifting the living standard of the players, there is no hope Pakistan hockey will come up from ashes. Pakistan hockey needs complete revamp and hefty finances. We were left high and dry. I requested the federation again and again to arrange international tours for the team to provide much-needed international exposure to the players. But no serious efforts were made rather we were given lollypop. I will announce my future after the last game of the event, but I will not make any decision in haste,” Shahnaz concluded.