LAHORE - Former Olympians and hockey legends demanded the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) officials to resign immediately after the disastrous performance in the 9th Asia Cup at Ipoh, Malaysia which deprived Pakistan of qualifying for the World Cup 2014 and let others to handle the hockey affairs to revive the national game in the country.
The Pakistan hockey team missed the last opportunity to qualify for the World Cup after suffering a 1-2 defeat at the hands of South Korea in the first semi-final of the Asia Cup. Earlier, the green shirts finished seventh in the World Hockey League (WHL) which was also a qualifying event for the World Cup.
Talking to this scribe on Friday, former Pakistan Olympian and golden player Manzoor Junior said: “The defeat against South Korea not only disappointed me but also the entire nation. It is very shameful to hear that Pakistan did not qualify for the Hockey World Cup 2014 which never happened in the hockey history of Pakistan as they not only had been qualifying easily for the World Cup in the past but also produced extraordinary results winning medals in the mega events.”
“There was a lack of planning in their game and they did not play up to the mark. The semi-final must be played as do-or-die clash but such spirit was not seemed in their performance this is the reason why they lost the match against Koreans,” the gold player said.
“This poor performance and disgraceful debacle exposed the tall and false claims of the PHF officials who set World Cup 2014 as their target. They earned 12th position in the last World Cup but this time, they even failed to qualify for the World Cup. The PHF insulted the national game and failed to uplift the standard of the game. They should immediately resign in the national interest so that hockey might be saved by those who are eager to regain the past hockey glories,” he added.
Manzoor urged Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif to take a bold decision in this regard. “The Prime Minister should sack all the PHF high-ups for this shameful loss and for not qualifying for the World Cup. The PM should immediately impose an ad-hoc on the federation and form a judicial committee to probe into the matter and give exemplary punishments to those found guilty,” he concluded.
Hockey stalwart, former captain and chief coach Islahuddin Siddiqui said that this was the darkest day in national hockey as Pakistan failed to qualify for the next year’s Hockey World Cup for the first time. “I really feel disgusting that Pakistan, which launched and pioneered competition, failed to make to the World Cup,” said Islahuddin who led to Pakistan triumph 1978 Beanos Aires.
Pakistan a force in world hockey had won World Cup in 1971 (Barcelona), 1978 (Buenos Aires), 1982 (Bombay) and 1994 (Sydney). He blamed Pakistan forwards for letting the team down. “They lacked imagination and spark which deeply disappointing me. Our forwards went all-out midway through the second session but they failed to test South Korean goalie. The failure of the team was due to poor policies of the PHF which was targeting new competition after every defeat,” he added.
Former Olympian Shahnaz Sheikh termed the Pakistan’s performance in the Asia Cup disastrous and demanded the PHF officials to resign so that others may handle the hockey matters for the betterment of hockey.
Disappointed Shahnaz said no ifs and buts would help them. “The PHF knows the team is weak in attacking hockey and has collapsed terribly on several occasions but what have they done for it?”
Shahnaz said this wouldn’t have happened if the PHF and the sports ministry had listened to them after the 2010 World Cup’s poor show when all the senior players had resigned. “At that time, we advised the sports ministry to accept the resignation of these players and make a new team with youngsters.”
The ex-Olympian said Pakistan hockey team would have been better if right men were selected for the right job. “Drastic steps are needed now in order to revive hockey,” he added.
He said it was easy for Pakistan to qualify for the World Cup in the WHL rather than in the Asia Cup. “The PHF had said time and again that the 2014 World Cup was their target but now where are they,” he said and added the team was not even near the World Cup.
Olympian M Saqlain also expressed his disappointment over the devastating performance of Pakistan team and demanded the removal of the PHF officials. “In today’s match, I have seen better Korean team because of their physical fitness, better defence and better utilization of plenty corners. Pakistan players failed in all the departments and could not perform well in the do-or-die match.
They have disappointed the entire nation and deprived Pakistan of qualifying for the World Cup 2014. The PHF officials must be sacked for showing such poor results,” he concluded.