KARACHI, 14 September 2007 — The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) will order an inquiry into the Asia Cup debacle after the national team flopped in the 11-nation tournament, finishing at a dismal sixth position following a shock defeat against China in the South Indian city of Chennai on Sunday.
A top Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) official told Arab News on Tuesday that a thorough post-mortem will be carried by the federation on the return of the national team later this week in a bid to find the reasons behind its poor performance in recent times.
“What happened in Chennai is unacceptable,” said PHF secretary Khalid Mehmood. “We will carry out an inquiry once the team returns because we have to find out why our boys are playing so badly,” added the former Olympian.
The PHF appointed paid coaches earlier this year, aiming to prepare a strong squad for this December’s Champions Trophy in Lahore and more importantly next summer’s Olympic Games in Beijing. Former Pakistan captain Islahuddin Siddiqui was brought back as the head coach.
But Pakistan’s performance graph dipped further as the Greenshirts flopped miserably in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Kuala Lumpur and finished a disappointing third place in a four-nation Olympic test event in Beijing last month. Their only title came in Moscow in a quadrangular event that featured three lowly teams -- Russia, Scotland and Ukraine.
“Till a few months back we were confident our team will take some sort of shape ahead of the Champions Trophy but it is evident that the boys haven’t improved at all,” said Khalid. “It is a matter of big concern because we don’t want Pakistan to lose badly on home turf in the Champions Trophy.” In the Asia Cup, Pakistan suffered defeats against lowly Japan and China and local experts are worrying that the national team might lose heavily against top sides like world champions Germany, Holland and Spain in the December 1-9 Champions Trophy.
“I still can’t believe that we lost to Japan and China and finished sixth in Chennai,” former Olympian Hassan Sardar told this correspondent. “I mean how Pakistan, Asia’s number one side, can finish behind teams like Japan, China and Malaysia,” he said.
Pakistan are a record three-time Asia Cup champions and till some years back faced little or no problems in reaching the event’s finals.
Hassan supported the idea of having a full-fledged inquiry into the Chennai disaster and said that the PHF will have to bring back some of the discarded senior players ahead of the Champions trophy. “I’ve been saying for a long time that without our senior players, we will continue to lose like this,” he said adding that Pakistan desperately need the services of short corner specialist Sohail Abbas and seasoned midfielders Waseem Ahmed, Muhammad Saqlain, Ghazanfar Ali and Dilawar Hussain.
The five players were blacklisted by the PHF after they skipped a national training camp last year and instead opted to play professional league abroad.
PHF president Zafarullah Khan Jamali announced that the discarded players will not play for Pakistan till he is at the helm of national hockey. Hassan said that the PHF officials will have to put their ego aside and start taking steps in national interest.
“We are the weakest in the midfield because our current team doesn’t have any experienced players there,” said Hassan.
