LAHORE, Oct 26: Thirteen former hockey Olympians on Tuesday issued a joint rejoinder to the press statement made by Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) secretary Asif Bajwa the other day, saying that the PHF had been turning a deaf ear to each and every advice from them in the past, and in view of the federation’s policies not much could be done to lift the level of the game with the Asian Games just 18 days away.

Bajwa, on Monday, had asked the Olympians to come forward and help Pakistan hockey rather than criticising the PHF policies.

“As Pakistanis, we have the utmost desire to see our team win a gold medal at the Asian Games,” said the rejoinder issued by Olympians Shahnaz Sheikh, Islahuddin, Samiullah, Khawaja Zakauddin, Tahir Zaman, Shahbaz Senior, Rashid Junior, Naveed Alam, Ayaz Ahmad, Qamar Zia and few others.

“We as Olympians believe that we are part of the PHF and have been sincerely advising the current PHF management since 2008 to adopt zonal attacking/defensive plan where the opponents are forced to adopt a defensive strategy which could in turn exhaust their energies to attack,” they stated.

The Olympians further claimed that with the same game-plan, Pakistan had dominated the world of hockey during the past many decades, bagging no less than 40 gold medals in top level international events which is still a world record.

They asked what choice were they left with but to criticise the PHF when the team finished an all-time low 12th in the World Cup and a poor 6th in the recent Commonwealth Games. “To win a gold medal in the Asian Games, Pakistan should lead its Group ‘B’ in an attempt to avoid South Korea in the semi-final,” they suggested.

According to the Asiad hockey draws, India, Japan, Hong Kong and Bangladesh are placed in Group ‘B’ alongwith Pakistan.

The rejoinder from the Olympians also pointed out that Shahnaz Sheikh had requested coach Khawaja Junaid to allow him to deliver a lecture to the Pakistan Youth team in order to motivate the players before their participation in the recent Youth Olympics Games, held in Singapore this year.

“But Khawaja Junaid has no powers at his disposal to arrange such a thing and required to get the permission from the PHF bosses which was unfortunately not given.”

It further said that the Olympians had rightly advised the PHF in the past to get rid of senior players like Mohammad Wasim, Zeeshan Ashraf, Sohail Abbas, Dilawar Abbas and Ghazanfar Ali in 2006. But in 2008, then president Zafarullah Khan Jamali and his secretary Asif Bajwa recalled them to the fold in a bid to win the Olympics Games in China but Pakistan finished at a poor 8th position.

“Those seniors are still playing despite the humiliation faced in the World Cup and in the Commonwealth Games,” the Olympians lamented. “Recalling of seniors in 2008, while applying the ideology of necessity, has sabotaged the entire system adopted in 2006 which entailed grooming of youngsters for the 2010 World Cup as well as the Commonwealth Games,” they claimed.

The Olympians also expressed their surprise at the recall of penalty-corner expert Sohail Abbas. “Sohail, no doubt, is a world class penalty-corner specialist but he is a spent force now as he contributed just two goals in the last World Cup in India out of 25 short-corners that came team’s way,” the rejoinder said.

“Recently, in a National Gold Cup event in Karachi his performance was below par. Even chief selector Hanif Khan had expressed his dissatisfaction over Sohail’s performance after that national tournament, but now he has changed his mind with no firm logic behind the move,” they said.

Commenting on the treatment they received from the Prime Minister, who is the patron-in-chief of the PHF, the Olympians stated that they were dismayed by the fact that the PM had no time for them.

“In fact, this PHF management is the most privileged body in history, having an unprecedented free hand compared to the other set-ups before them. It has received huge funds from the PM but is not utilising them properly,” they noted.

“Setting the not so high-profile Asian Games as its main target two years ago instead of focusing on the World Cup, the PHF has only attempted to deceive the nation,” the Olympians argued.

“We are not satisfied with the preparation plans of the PHF for the Asian Games because the training camp (in Islamabad from Oct 26) is being set up just 18 days before the event. If the off days in the camp as well as the travelling time to China is discounted, the boys will hardly get 12 days of practice for Asiad which is just not enough,” they pointed out.

The Olympians argued that the Dutch coach of national team Michel van den Heuvel has been working like an adviser to the PHF rather than imparting coaching to the players.

“A Pakistani coach may have faced the axe after the poor show in the CW Games but the Dutchman has no such worry at hand, and conveniently left for his homeland soon afterwards. According to reports, he will now directly join the Asiad squad in China which is ridiculous.”