PHF officials own responsibility for Olympics failure
By Our Sports Correspondent
LAHORE, Sept 2: Top officials of the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) on Thursday conceded they were responsible for team's humiliation at Athens Olympics but felt "satisfied" on the performance apart from the crucial game against Spain.
"The team collapsed due to the must-win situation against Spain. But except that game the performance (of the team) is satisfactory. The team played six matches and lost two which is not a bad performance but the defeat in crunch match against Spain cost us heavily. Luck was not on our side at any stage," secretary PHF Brig Musarrat Ullah Khan told newsmen.
Pakistan failed to reach the semifinals after a 4-0 thrashing by Spain in a crunch match and ended on a dismal fifth place. The secretary held himself, the PHF president Gen Aziz Khan, team management, selection committee and the players responsible for the defeat.
Asked how the selection committee could be held responsible since it became redundant after hiring the foreign coach Roelant Oltmans, he said the selectors had the powers and would carry out their jobs in the future too.
He admitted that Mohammad Sarwar was dropped from the Olympics squad only by the selection committee, while PHF president also favoured the selectors, although the coach had put his weight behind striker's inclusion.
"The coach has criticised the performance of Sarwar but he was in favour of his selection too which had no logic. The president approved the decision of the selection committee," he said.
Sarwar was sidelined and allegedly asked to announce his retirement by the selectors after the announcement of the last year's Champions Trophy squad. The forward was, however, later called up by Oltmans before finally being again axed by the selectors for the Olympics.
The PHF official did not agree that the coach had short time to prepare the squad for the mega event. "The coach was given an experienced team. He was well aware of the strength of the team and that is why he accepted the offer. He was under no pressure to accept the coaching assignment and now he should accept the results instead of giving an excuse of short time," he remarked.
Musarrat said Oltmans was hired considering Pakistan coach Tahir Zaman had only three-year experience which was not enough for a big event. "We have made good investment on Tahir and hired Oltmans for grooming."
He said Oltmans had confirmed that he would continue and would train the squad for the eight-match home and away series against arch-rivals India from Sept 24 before December's Champions Trophy in Lahore..
However, he refrained from saying anything on the renewal of Oltmans contract which expires in December. The PHF official claimed the federation provided all kinds of facilities to the junior and senior teams and 'did not commit any fault.' He said a short duration training camp for the series against India begins in Karachi from Sept 20.
