Daily Times

LAHORE: The Pakistan Hockey Federation has decided to probe the Pakistan team’s dismal performance at the Hockey World Cup debacle where they were not able to bag any victories. Pakistan, placed in Pool D, lost 1-0 to Germany, drew 1-1 against Malaysia and then lost 5-1 to the Netherlands, but still qualified for the cross-over match against Belgium. However, a 5-0 humiliation in the pre-quarter-final at the hands of Belgium ended the tournament for Pakistan. The probe will prepare a performance report of the team in the World Cup, and it will also report on the downfall of hockey in general. A four-man probe committee will be led by Olympian Rasheed Junior, whereas Manzoorul Hasan Senior, Shahid Ali Khan and Majid Basheer will assist him. Basheer will also serve as the legal advisor and the secretary of the committee. The committee will complete its report in 15 days

Former Olympians want regime change at PHF: Meanwhile, holding the present Pakistan Hockey Federation officials responsible for national team’s miserable performance in the World Cup, former Olympians Manzoor-ul-Hasan Senior and Samiullah Khan has said regime change is mandatory for the revival of Pakistan hockey. “The pathetic results produced by Pakistan at the World Cup shows complete lack of planning and preparation by the management. Therefore, the PHF officials should immediately resign; and if they don’t, the government should sack them,” both Manzoor and Samiuallh said. “Not even in one match Pakistan performed like an integrated unit; rather it looked as if individuals or groups [within a team] are playing,” lamented Manzoor. “Yes, Pakistan started off well against Germany but in a World Cup no team can make an impact on the basis of good show in just one match. You need to demonstrate high-quality game consistently in all outings to create chances for yourself to advance.” A disgruntled Manzoor held the federation – whom he claimed did not even develop domestic hockey – responsible for the disaster Pakistan went through in the 16-nation showpiece at Bhubaneswar.

“The PHF officials and the team management should immediately resign and if they don’t go the government should take necessary action to send them home,” he insisted. “Instead of preparing a world-class team, the current PHF management has been busy to form parallel bodies at district and provincial levels to get votes in order to remain in the federation,” he alleged. “Furthermore, the PHF has completely failed to develop infrastructure at domestic level, and this is the reason Pakistan hockey has undergone alarming decline in recent years.” Meanwhile noting that Pakistan delivered their worst performance at the mega event, Samiullah emphasised the present PHF regime must leave the scene if the country is to see the national team qualify for the 2020 Olympics.

Underlining that the PHF management – rather than concentrating on building a strong team – has been running its affairs on adhoc basis, Samiullah said the induction of Tauqir Dar (head coach) and Danish Kaleem (assistant coach) at the eleventh hour before the national camp for the World Cup started reflects poor planning by the federation. He added that the PHF also raised a developing squad but it had failed to even produce a single player from it despite spending millions of rupees on the activity.

Published in Daily Times, December 14^th 2018.