March 13, 2002	Wednesday	Zilhaj 28, 1422

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KARACHI, March 12: Mercurial forward Shahbaz Ahmed Tuesday said defeat against Argentine cost Pakistan the World Cup but refused to accept Pakistan’s fifth finish was disappointing.

“The lapse against Argentine cost Pakistan the World Cup but I don’t think it was a big disappointment to finish fifth in the World Cup,” Shahbaz said.

Pakistan failed to qualify for the semifinals of the 10th World Cup held in Malaysia’s capital city of Kuala Lumpur.

“We played our matches against Germany, Netherlands and Spain very well and had we won that crucial game against Argentine we would surely have finished better,” Shahbaz, who made a third comeback in the international hockey, said.

“Pakistan team is still ranked in the top four five teams and can qualify for semifinals in any event.”

Germany beat Australia 2-1 to lift their maiden World Cup.

Shahbaz blamed a poor pitch for defeat against Argentina.

“We lost our match against Argentine because of a poor pitch and most of our matches were played on that pitch which was not even,” he said.

“Our penalty corner expert Sohail Abbas suffered badly due to uneven pitch.” Shahbaz said, adding Pakistan’s forward line did not click properly.

“Our forward line should have played better and if you analyze our performance the forward line did not click as it should have.

“As far as my performance is concerned, I too played average hockey and since the Dutch marked me, I couldn’t play my game properly,” he said.

Shahbaz said he did not regret his decision to stage a comeback.

“Whatever I did it was in the love of the country and since my country needed me I staged a comeback and got due respect from everyone,” he said.

Shahbaz said he was still undecided about his future.

“It’s early to say anything, I have yet to decide but would do so in the next couple of weeks.”—SADA