ISLAMABAD – Pakistan restored their pride by edging out Koreans 3-2 to finish seventh in the London Olympics Men's Hockey match played on Thursday.
Although it was not convincing victory but one had to appreciate the determination of the green shirts who never lost their composure and earned a well-deserved victory and finished the first half with a 2-1 deficit. They bounced back in the second half and levelled the match at 2-2 and then got scored the third goal on a short corner taken by Imran, who struck a powerful shot with such a speed that neither Korean goalie nor defender could even move as the ball smashed the net. Pakistan started the match at a brisk pace and put pressure on the Koreans but in that particular match too goalkeeper Imran Shah let the team down by conceding relatively easy goals much to the disliking of captain and team.
Pakistan hockey management must have to give the reason behind Imran Shah's selection ahead of Salman Akbar for reasons best known to the PHF. The selectors didn't even bother to at least have a goalie on the bench to replace Imran after countless blunders throughout the Games.
Now the time is ripe that Prime Minister of Pakistan, who is also a patron-in-chief of PHF, must take bold decisions and have some mercy on the nation, which is suffering ever since Qasim Zia took over the PHF charge as hockey reaches at lowest ebb during this period. There is still time left to save the fast declining fortunes of the national game and made team management accountable to save hockey from further disaster as youngsters already preferring to play any other game would completely turn their backs on national game that may result in ending of an era. The Europeans are still scared of green shirts that is why they kept on changing rules just to benefit their players and save their skins from hockey maestros of subcontinent.