16 May 2004	Sunday	25 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1425

KARACHI, May 15: Pakistan's 5-2 humiliation against arch- rivals India at Junior Asia Cup hockey drew criticism from two former stars on Saturday who blamed the team officials for the defeat , saying they were not worthy to be at the helm.

Former captain Hanif Khan held team manager Jahangir Butt and coach Asif Bajwa responsible for the thrashing and said they failed to maintain discipline among the players during the final.

"Hot tempers let us down against the Indians. If manager and coach can't teach players how to behave on the field, it means they are not good enough to be at the helm," he said.

Hanif said according to International Hockey Federation (FIH) rules manager was responsible for the discipline of players during matches but Jahangir did not play his role.

"The bench officials, especially the manager should have asked the youngsters during the break to control their emotions. It was his duty to control the players.

Hanif, also a former coach, said apart from hot tempers, Shakeel Abbasi, Akhtar Ali and Tariq Aziz were involved in individual play and there was hardly any planning in the moves.

"I wonder why Pakistan played defensive in the first half which gave Indians opportunity to attack and score goals. Our team went on attack in the second half but defence cracked under pressure whenever Indians made inroads."

Abdul Rashid Jr also put the onus of the beating on team management's shoulders, saying lack of planning and unnecessary display of hot tempers were the major reasons for the loss.

"Jahangir is such an experienced official, I can't understand why he didn't control the players and refrained them from getting involved in brawls. I wonder whether he was really on the bench," the former manager said.

Rashid questioned the eligibility of Shakeel who was included in the junior squad from the senior side, saying "is the forward really Under-21 and was eligible to play in Junior Asia Cup."

"It is incomprehensible why over-age players like Shakeel, Mohammad Iqbal, Adnan Zakir, Imran Warsi and Imran Khan were included in the team and even then we lost the final," he asked.