LAHORE – Former hockey Olympians lashing out at Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) and Pakistan hockey team said that they were very disappointed with the team’s worst show and demanded the PHF officials to resign immediately.

Talking to TheNation here on Tuesday, former Olympian and golden player Manzoor Junior, who won gold medal as captain in 1984, said: “Pakistan team though played well in the first four matches and there was a chance for them to beat Australia and qualify for the semi-finals but they played very poor game which was worse than a club level team. The 7-0 defeat in the hands of Australian team was a historic one for Pakistan team which never conceded as many goals as they conceded in this match. They also lost the chance to qualify for the Champions Trophy. It was really very disappointing for me as well as for 180 million Pakistani people who had great expectations from hockey team,” he said.
“It was a great chance for the senior players to perform well and help the team to win medal and then quit the game with great honour and respect but they just disappoint the whole nation and hockey lovers.”
“When people started saying that I could not play more than 15 minutes in the field, I had decided to prove my critics wrong and played 100-minute match in 1984 Olympics and helped the team win the gold medal with my performance and brought laurels for the country. After that historic victory, I had quit the game with great honour and respect,” he added.
“After this dreadful defeat, now the PHF officials and especially selection committee should immediately resign as in their tenure, hockey saw its worst period and was at the edge of decline so they must resign and give chance to those who may run the system sincerely and skillfully and not only help rebuilding the new team for next Olympics but also do their best to regain the lost hockey glory,” Manzoor Junior concluded.
Talking to this scribe, former Olympian Naveed Alam said that the team did not play like a unit as there was no coordination between the players. Pakistan team failed in all the departments like bench, defence, mid field and forward as they did not play their due role to help the team win the crucial and important match.
“Even Australian team won the match by 7-0 yet they did not play their full-fledged hockey as continuity was not seemed in their game. They just played their best game till first two goals and put pressure on Pakistanis fully and then getting maximum benefit from it hammered five more goals to win the match and did not allow green shirts to get a single plenty corner. So poor show of Pakistan team allow Australia fully score historic victory,” he claimed.
He said that now the target of the current PHF body to remain in power till London Olympics 2012 was completed no matter how much they destroyed the national game. Now after this worst show, they must resign immediately and give chance to those who are serious to save hockey from further decline, revive it in the country and to regain Pakistan’s past glory in the field of hockey, Naveed concluded.