KARACHI, 2 February 2008 — Former champions Pakistan will begin a race against time next month when they kick off preparations for this summer’s Olympic Games in a bid to form a team strong enough to win a medal in Beijing.
But things look quite gloomy for them after a series of setbacks at the international level and a lethargic approach shown by the people at the helm of the national sport.
A new head coach has been appointed by the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) to supervise their Olympic homework but with just about six months to go in the world’s biggest sporting spectacle, time seems to be running out for Pakistan.
Former Olympian Khawaja Zakauddin, who had been previously serving as the chief selector, is now the head coach after the PHF swapped posts and appointed former chief coach Islahuddin Siddiqui as the chairman of selectors.
The formal announcement of the new portfolios given to the former Olympians was quietly posted on the previously non-functional PHF website.
All efforts to contact top PHF officials including its president Zafarullah Khan Jamali and secretary Khalid Mahmood failed.
Jamali avoided the media by saying that he is still on a bed rest because of a knee injury while Khalid is recovering from a heart bypass surgery.
Zakauddin, however, was available and sounded very optimistic in an interview with Arab News.
“I know that we don’t have much time and I also know that the national team has not been performing very well, but I must tell you that we are still harboring hopes of winning a medal in Beijing,” he stressed.
Having won three Olympic gold medals in hockey in the past, expectations remain high in the country in spite of the fact that Pakistan have failed to clinch the Olympic title since winning it almost quarter of a century ago in Los Angeles.
Zakauddin is aware of it. He is also aware of the fact that Pakistan’s last Olympic medal — a bronze — also came quite a while ago in Barcelona (1992) and since then, the Greenshirts have been unable to impress much at the international scene currently dominated by defending Olympic champions Australia and European powerhouses Germany, Holland and Spain.
The former Olympian had a first-hand experience of his team’s strengths and weaknesses when he took it to Kuala Lumpur for last December’s Champions Trophy in the absence of Islahuddin, who suffered from a fracture during a training session in Karachi just before the eight-nation tournament.
Pakistan showed some promise when they stunned Spain in a league match but eventually ended the tournament at a dismal seventh position, just ahead of hosts Malaysia.
“The Champions Trophy was a very useful tournament for me as coach,” Zakauddin said. “I mean you can get a complete picture of the overall package by being a part of all the action,” he added.
The coach believes that Pakistan will have to strengthen their defence and work on their midfield to improve the chances of winning a medal in Beijing.
“We concede too many goals because our goalkeepers are inconsistent and the deep defence is also far from being solid,” he pointed out. “Then the midfield also needs some young and fast legs.”
Zakauddin is eyeing the national junior squad and is expecting to get some reinforcements from there, ahead of the Beijing assignment. “I’ve been keenly following their (junior team’s) results and have reasons to believe that some of those young boys can become a part of the senior team.”
