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KARACHI: Pakistani Olympians voiced anger and disappointment on Wednesday after their once-dominant hockey team failed spectacularly at the London Games, calling for change from top to bottom.
Pakistan were annihilated 7-0 by world champions Australia in their last pool match on Tuesday – their worst Olympic defeat – to crash out of the medal race.
They now play South Korea in a play-off for seventh and eighth position on Thursday.
Former Olympian Shahnaz Shaikh said changes were needed at all levels of the game to get the country back to the form that saw Pakistan win hockey gold in 1960, 1968 and 1984.
“First, the Dutch coach Michel van den Heuvel was shown the door and then there was an uncertain build-up for the games, which affected the performance,” Shaikh told AFP.
The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) terminated the Dutchman's contract for breach of agreement just four months before London.
“When a kid continuously fails monthly tests, how can he get good marks in the annual examination?” lamented Shaikh, demanding immediate changes within a “directionless” PHF.
“We need new planning and new faces to run the game, which was pumped with huge funds from the government in the past,” said Shaikh, referring to state subsidies, the value of which was not disclosed, for hockey between 2004-2010.
Another former Olympian, Mansoor Ahmed, agreed.
“Enough is enough, we badly need a change in the PHF,” said Ahmed, a member of Pakistan's last of four World Cup winning teams in 1994.
“We should have prepared well for the Olympics but we were exposed by a superior Australian team. It is time we make concrete efforts to lift up our national sport.”
The last two decades have seen a dramatic decline for Pakistan hockey.
London is their fifth Olympics without a medal. Their last was a bronze at the 1992 Games in Barcelona.
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Comments (19) Closed
Aug 08, 2012 01:54pm
the way to improve is to accelerate the spread of AstroTurf pitches around the country, so they are more accessible. Domestic hockey needs to be improved so that its reach, reaches much further and gives access to these pitches to a much greater portion of the population.
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Aug 08, 2012 02:05pm
The PHF should resign. But we know that nobody will resign. This is not our culture. Following are the key issues: (i) no serious hockey is played in Pakistan anymore, (2) no facilities at grass root level (e.g. at school level), (3) politicaly run federation, not professionally run, (4) resistance in adopting modern techniques (even last Olympic winning Pakistani team will be defeated same way), etc....We are still living in 1970s! Wakeup nation!!!!!
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Aug 08, 2012 02:02pm
I have never seen a team with poor defenders and goal keeper plus the forward players who are good in taking the ball in the rivals country but the guys cant hit the target propely.. what a loss and a shame.
its just the mid fielders who got them in 7th/8th positision or they would have been no different to the indians. last position
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Aug 08, 2012 11:13am
What a disgrace????The whole PHF should resign including Qasim Zia and Bajwa.Bring in sincere players loyal to the cause of game,dignity and honour for our beloved country Pakistan.All these appontments in PHF through source should be sent home.
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Aug 08, 2012 01:04pm
This is a deliberate sabotage to Pakistan's interest. The PHF who messed up hockey before the Olympics by sacking the Dutch coach and suspending senior players on disciplinary grounds need to be accounted for their actions. This is criminal.
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Aug 08, 2012 03:07pm
Get some more meat and muscle on these boys!! The game has become more physical. You cannot win the ball with Asian style hockey any longer.
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Aug 08, 2012 03:27pm
I agree with Shahnaz Shaikh's analysis that PHF is to be shaken up.As with everything we need an experienced,forward thinking person to take charge.I do not agree that we keep on looking at our achievements in 1960,1968 & 1984.It is true we dominated the hockey world by dribbling,stick work and short passes and that on grass!.The game has changed beyond any comprehension and experience of any former olympian and some of the present senior players.Hockey is now played on blue,yes blue, water based astra turf,which is fast,very fast.A player has to be in his peak fitness,able to be in the opposite ends of the pitch in a flash.PAK players had no chance of going through 7 or 8 AUS defenders,no matter what "stick work"or the short passes they were doing in the middle before approaching the goal.AUS and any other team concentrate on fast, aggressive,long passes.This is the game now.No more short passes,individual show of stick work.To see that against AUS confirmed how out of touch the coach or the manager is.It is like sending a soldier into the modern battlefield with a sword because that is how the great Muslim fighters used to win battles.One should move on and not looking back.All this is very sad.First thing first. Install the blue water based pitch in Lahore with immediate effect for the young players to get used to playing onit.The modern game is fast.All the top teams play in this fashion.All the old Olympians and the management of PHF should get together in an auditorium and just watch the thrashing of PAK by AUS 7-0.Read my comments loud and see how true they are.Good luck for the next Olympics.
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Aug 08, 2012 04:43pm
All members of Hockey Team, including PHF officials, and I mean all, no exception, no ifs & buts, should be let go and Pakistan should start with a clean slate and a new, able and proven coaches and players with ability, skill and dedication be selected with fair and generous rumuneration. No political interference should be tolerated. Then and only then Pakistan may be able to redeem itself.
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Aug 08, 2012 05:34pm
Build the team a weight room and buy health club equipment.
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Aug 08, 2012 05:39pm
The game went to the toilet the day ex players started to join it's management. Their personal rivalries during playing days became counterproductive to the the betterment of the game and certainly played a role in player selection. About banning players right before Olympics and then allowing them to play after the paid their fines is called EXTORTION. In Pakistan it is called Jagga tax. Shame on you guys.
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Aug 08, 2012 09:02pm
No surprise. Hockey has been wiped out at school level and in major cities. We can train school kids in good hockey but not a player who is already playing first class hockey. It is too late for him to learn the basics of modern hockey. Secondly, modern hockey requires super fit individuals, which can only be produced by nations where sports and atheletics is part of their every day life. We are not a healthy nation and therefore cannot even field 11 super fit players out of a population of 180M. Conclusion is - forget hockey and invest our resources in other games where we have better chances.
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Aug 08, 2012 09:39pm
how many things you are going to fix? the whole country needs a fixup, and not a word from our PM, tells you where they are focusing.
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Aug 08, 2012 11:16pm
Dear Pakistani people.
PHF president and secretary are politically connected people.Qasim Zia accompanied Benazir Bhutto in the plane which brought her to Pakistan, while Bajwa was at one point, holding all the three posts of coach, secretary and manager!!. There is no problem with the team, the problem is with us, the people of Pakistan. We are going to vote for the same person and party in upcoming election. Just look at the last election in Azad Kashmir.The party who has brought this nation in cricket, hockey and every aspect of life, to the lowest level, wins landslide in all the four provinces and as perpetual hippocrates we keep voting them into government.
Excuses are that our players are not strong, tall and are physically inferior. What a lie. Look at the Chinese, Japanese and Koreans. They have smaller heights then us but they are high in medal lists because they dont vote for Zardaris, Sharifs and MQM.
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Aug 08, 2012 11:44pm
I think we're a corrupt nation ( sorry to say) but its a fact...............all sports assignements connected with POLITICS
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We need GENUINE PHF leader...........we need Australian or German Coach to train hockey team.
Mr. Zardari please save atleast main stream sports ( Not nation)
Please dissolve PHF ASAP.
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Aug 09, 2012 01:59am
Absolutely. PHF officials are nothing short of traitors, specially Hanif Khan who hated all senior players and demoralised them. PHF is solely responsible for (1) sacking the Dutch coach (2) Demoralising and penalising the senior players. (3) Selecting only one inexperienced goalkeeper with no backup. (4) Not enough training and lack of physical fitness. The whole PHF management should be sacked.
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Aug 09, 2012 04:12am
Please let's get it right - Pakistani team's failure can be attributed to ill-preparedness, lack of coordination, lack of fitness, lack of strategy, etc. The PHF and players are responsible, but please don't forget the relevant ministry and the bureaucracy are lacklustre, the right sports infrastructure and culture in Pakistan does not exist. Change can only happen by revamping the entire system.
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Aug 09, 2012 04:13am
The failure is not just the failure of hockey game, its players or Hockey Federation. The entire nation has become a failed state.
Every facet of Pakistani nation is on the verge of collapse: never ending load shedings, genocide of Pakistani citizens and minorities, an army and its intelligence who cannot stop the constant intrusion of the motherland yet in bed with the Jihadis and involved in the genocide of its own people (Baloch, Hazaras, Ahmadis, etc) and who has itself become a burden on the nation, a police force that is of no use except harassing ordinary citizens, judges who cannot see the daily killings but whose priorities are dismantling the government, and militants that comes from all over the world to kill Pakistani citizens under the protection of the state.
Bring back Jinnah's Pakistan and you will see a nation that will start taking pride in its identity. But this will not happen until there is a revolution by the ordinary Pakistanis that will force en masse resignations of those parasites sucking the blood out of Pakistan.
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Aug 09, 2012 04:50am
yes we do need a total overhauling of the hockey administration in Pakistan.
We may have to erase everything and restart. We must.
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Aug 09, 2012 04:53am
The 7-0 humiliation of Pakistan in the hands of Australia, reminded me of good old days, when Pakistan used to finish matches with such scores, against weak opponents.
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