Legendary Olympian Shahnaz Sheikh has claimed that since the PHF officials are short-sighted and have no vision about the game, another tsunami may hit Pakistan hockey during the upcoming 2011 Champions Trophy and the 2012 Olympics.
“The current performance of the Pakistan team in the four-nation Rabo Cup in Holland proved that the team is mediocre and as the time is short for the Champions Trophy and the Olympics, it can’t be raised as a formidable outfit.” Shahnaz told Dawn.
Pakistan finished at the bottom in the Rabo Cup in which toughest teams of the world like Holland, Germany, England, besides Pakistan were playing.
“The performance in the Rabo Cup is the exact reflection how Pakistan team is placed in the world ranking,” Shahnaz remarked.
He claimed that as the PHF failed to take a decision about the senior players after the last Asian Games and now it had no time to make drastic changes for the forthcoming events. “Instead of removing the ageing players after the last World Cup the PHF bargained with them to continue until the Olympics,” he added.
The former Olympian said that the composition of the team had been affected largely due to the lop-sided equation of the ageing players and the juniors who were finding it hard to strike a blanace.
“Presently, the team consists of two types of players, the ageing ones and real junior players which is not a perfect blend. Therefore, the PHF officials should be realistic and have a broader canvas rather than focusing only on saving their skins in the mega events,” he said and asserted that the seniors did not have the stamina to play back-to-back matches.
“Even teams like Belgium, Ireland and France are giving tough opposition to Pakistan that gives a very clear indication about its real strength,” argued Shahnaz.
He commented that the government had pumped in Rs 300 million into the PHF accounts, but those funds were not utilised properly.
“In fact there is lot of ambiguity between the directions and the goals of the PHF. The decisions taken by the PHF in the past are needed to be given second thought,” he suggested.
On the role of coaching academies, the former Olympian suggested that the PHF should reduce them in number. “At the moment the PHF has more then a dozen of coaching academies. But these academies neither produce the required pool of players nor coaches, damaging those cities where local club network is very strong.
He also hit out at PHF president Qasim Zia and secretary Asif Bajwa and the Dutch coach of the Pakistan team, Michel van den Heuvel.
“Seventy-five per cent people of the present PHF have been involved for the last 11 years, but it has so far managed to win only seven medals including only one gold medal, which is nothing if compared to the previous achievements of Pakistan.
news covered by dawn sports
No comments:
Post a Comment