November 14, 2001	Wednesday	Shaba’an 27, 1422

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LAHORE, Nov 13: The root cause of the Pakistan team finishing a poor fourth in the recently concluded Champions Trophy at Rotterdam (Holland) was that the players could not overcome shortcomings in possession, passing and stopping of the ball.

This was stated here by the former PHF secretary and Olympian Col. (retd.) Zafar Ali Khan Zafri while talking to Dawn  on Tuesday. 

He explained that the European teams had greater edge over Pakistan in these particular areas of the game and a consistent and greater effort was required to improve the overall standard of play.

He went on to add that these were the faults of the team and ironically the coaches despite having all the facilities failed to cope up with the required standards stressing that one- touch game was the basic demand on astro-turf surface, but the Pakistan players indulged in bad habit of dead-stopping the ball. as a result of which no one  could  dodge the opponents easily.

He said that though the Pakistan team performance in the Champions Trophy was not satisfactory. He was all praise for the goalkeeper Qasim Khan, who he said had done a good job under the bar.

Regarding Shahbaz Ahmad Senior who switched back from the coaching of the team to act as player, Col. Zafri admitted that he had advised him to stage a come-back in the international hockey field.

“Shahbaz  impressed me in the national championship, but could not match the form required for the international competition”, he said.

Meanwhile, Pakistan hockey skipper Mohammad  Sarwar blamed umpiring, bad luck and the cold weather as the major causes behind the national team’s dismal performance in the just concluded Champions Trophy.

Pakistan team which arrived here Tuesday finished a disappointing fourth after beaten 5-2 by hosts Holland for third place play-off. Earlier in round robin league Pakistan were beaten by Germany and Australia the eventual winners and runners up in the six-nation prestigious competition played in Rotterdam, Holland.

“Luck deserted us in crucial matches against Australia and Germany. while weather too did work against us” said Sarwar while talking to Dawn.