LAHORE: Several former hockey Olympians reiterated on Monday their demand they made two years ago, appealing Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to replace the present set-up of the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) with capable individuals to save the national game from further damage.

Several former Olympians, who tried but failed to get the incumbent PHF hierarchy headed by Qasim Zia removed some two years ago, launched a fresh appeal to bring in competent people for running hockey affairs of the country.

In a media statement, former Olympian Manzoor Junior urged the prime minister to change the present PHF management to save the game from further disaster.

In another statement issued by Samiullah Khan as spokesman of other Olympians — Shahnaz Sheikh, Saleem Sherwani, Shahbaz Senior, Qamar Zia, Qamar Ibrahim, Ayaz Mahmood, Kamran Ashraf and Sameer Hussain — stressed an immediate decision to sack the current PHF administration would help in salvaging the sport.

Insisting no one should expect any better results with the current PHF management in place, Manzoor reckoned their five-year tenure brought nothing for the country but one decline after the other.

“Former prime minister and PHF president Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali would be the best choice to replace Qasim Zia as hockey chief, as he [Jamali] can put the game back on the right track with his sincere efforts,” Manzoor stated.

He lamented a poor show by national team in the last five years.

“During the last five years Pakistan could bag only two gold medals at the Asian level, while our national team failed to excel at the world level competitions featuring top-class field hockey,” Manzoor underlined.

Pakistan won gold at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China and then they stood first in the 2012 Asian Champions Trophy staged in Doha. In global competitions, in the meantime, the national team’s performance remained pathetic as they could seize just one bronze medal, in the last Champions Trophy held at Melbourne in December 2012.

Meanwhile, Samiullah and other Olympians avoided suggesting any name to replace Qasim, but they demanded the entire PHF set-up along with the team management be replaced.

“We are not mentioning any specific person for the [PHF] post, but we only demand the prime minister to bring in a respectable and sincere man at the helm,” Samiullah stated.

Asked if Qasim was not a respectable man, Samiullah said if competency in managing hockey affairs was considered, Qasim had no reputation, “otherwise, he is like a younger brother to me”.

“Their [PHF officials’] performance speaks for itself, and if they get more chance [to stay in office] our hockey will suffer further,” Samiullah said.

Asked how he would justify any change in the PHF and national team management at this moment when Pakistan were set to feature in the 2014 World Cup qualifiers from June 29 in Malaysia, Samiullah argued the upcoming assignment was not difficult and administrative changes would not damage the team’s performance.

Samiullah acknowledged that the only big achievement during Qasim-led management was the gold medal won by Pakistan in the 2010 Asian Games. Whereas the bronze claimed by the green-shirts in the Melbourne Champions Trophy was termed a “blessing due to the format of the tournament” by Samiullah.