ISLAMABAD - Former Pakistan hockey team head coach and manager Olympian Shahnaz Sheikh Wednesday requested Prime Minister Imran Khan to have mercy on national game hockey and send the highly incompetent incumbent PHF management home, as it is already too late and further delays could cost green shirts a place in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as well.
“Pakistan hockey team had played six tournaments under this federation and they finished 7th or beyond in all the tournaments. These are same players whom I had managed and coached in 2014 and at very same venue, where first the Netherlands and then Belgium thrashed green shirts, we managed to beat the Netherlands 4-2 and hosts India 2-1 in the Champions Trophy in India. But now see the debacle, green shirts conceded 12 goals and managed only 2. What a downfall,” Shahnaz rued while talking to The Nation.
He said he had managed to take Pakistan team to finals of Champions Trophy and Asian Games and also helped Pakistan win 4-nation tournament in Australia in 2015.
“Soon after that the elected management was removed and Brig Khalid Khokhar and Shahbaz Senior took over the reins of the federation. They made huge claims and promised not to bank on government for funds but look what happened. They are crying from day-one for government financial support. They had hired six different coaching combinations, two chief selectors and a number of other changes were also made but results remained the same. More and more misery was witnessed by the long suffering hockey fans and now Pakistan had missed two golden opportunities of ensuring a birth in the 2020 Olympics. They failed in the Asian Games and now they baldy flopped in the World Cup as well. I had always maintained, players lack fitness and stamina and all my fears came into reality when after playing well against Germans and giving them strong reply, green shirts completely flattened against the Netherlands. They even failed to beat Malaysia and were given a hockey lesson by Belgium, who could have scored more goals had they not missed simple chances. Pakistan team failed to create a single major goal-scoring move in the entire 4 quarters of the match.”
He said that one thing was very much clear that players and bench ddin’t had any kind of coordination.
He said that rather than focusing on playing major tournaments and arranging long-time training camps, the federation kept on changing combinations and personal likes and dislikes have also badly affected the performance of national hockey team.
“I feel it is more than enough and government had to decide as any further delays in removing the top brass of the Pakistan Hockey Federation will leave unprecedented damage on the game and it will take decades to come out of these damages.”
“I feel four years are more than enough to proof whether one has qualities, direction and all know how of the hockey. If they failed to manage improving hockey in last 4 years, what can they do in next 4 years or so. The PM should not waste any further time and immediately appoint an ad-hoc committee, based on highly sincere Olympians, who could steady the fast sinking PHF ship and ensure Pakistan hockey back on right track.” He said until and unless drastic steps are being taken by the government regarding the PHF, hockey is bound to suffer more and more.
