ISLAMABAD - Olympian Khalid Bashir has lashed out at Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) and has urged Prime Minister Imran Khan to meet with former Olympian to resolve Pakistan hockey woes.

Talking to The Nation, Khalid Bashir said: “PHF President Brig (R) Khalid Sajjad Khokhar and Secretary Shahbaz Senior kept on befooling the entire nation saying the team would win gold medal in Asian Games but the actual performance of the team was very pathetic. Despite getting millions of rupees funds from government, the federation failed to even provide the ordinary results.”

He said that despite feeling ashamed, the president and secretary are demanding more funds from the government. “First they must give details of the funds provided to them and also answer that why they get Euro 70,000 loan from abroad, where it was utilized and how and when they have returned,” he questioned.

Khalid said Hassan Sardar is with the federation just because of the post of manager. “A question arises here that why the PHF financial situation is zero despite having huge grants from the previous government and where that amount was spent.”

He said the PHF officials can’t hide the facts from masses and government. “Instead of implementing ground-based decisions, the PHF officials are hiding their failures and taking steps in haste. On what grounds Hassan Sardar was first made selector, then coach and now manager. It will give no benefit to Pakistan hockey.

“Hassan Saradr has given statement in the media that he doesn’t know much about modern-day hockey and admitted that an international coach is need of the hour to change the fortunes of hockey. Now how on earth he has accepted the responsibility of head coach of the national team,” he added.

Khalid blamed that Brig Khokhar managed to land the PHF President slot due to his relation with former Interior Minister Ch Ahsan Iqbal, but he completely failed to deliver and hockey and players are suffering more in his tenure. “The If we closely look at the last three years tenure of the current officials, Pakistan hockey team finished 7th in Commonwealth Games, finished at the rock bottom in the Champions Trophy and the country badly missed the golden opportunity of qualifying for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. If they had won gold medal in the Asian Games hockey, they would have directly qualified for the Olympics.

“Prior to Brig Khokhar and Shahbaz, Pakistan team world ranking was 10th, but now they are lying down at below 13th in the world. Who is responsible for inflicting such miseries on entire nation and why youth is far from adopting hockey as profession. The hockey illiterates have destroyed the game in Pakistan and prevented fresh blood from playing hockey. When youth can’t get jobs and their due right of representing the country in the presence of blue-eyed, how can youth be attracted towards the national game,” he added.

He said that the world’s weakest teams were playing in the Asian Games and the federation was very happy after scoring goals against weaker teams, but when they played against Japan and India, they were exposed. “The federation is being occupied by politically-backed persons, which is the main reason behind hockey downfall.

“We will soon meet with IPC Minister Dr Fehmida Mirza and Prime Minister Imran Khan to inform them about actual facts. We will give pain to these officials, which they gave to hockey lovers and Olympians. We will not give them any chance to further inflict damages on the national game,” Khalid concluded.”