August 07, 2006	Monday	Rajab 11, 1427

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

LAHORE, Aug 6: Newly-appointed Pakistan hockey manager-cum-coach Shahnaz Sheikh is confident that the team would make it to the victory stand in the World Cup, saying that he would be responsible for a poor performance.

"The boys have potential to beat any World Cup team. For that, they only have to be consistent. I am quite hopeful players are capable of overcoming their shortcomings,” Shahnaz told Dawn on Sunday from Jeddah where he is stationed as a PIA employee.

Shahnaz, under whom Pakistan were relegated in the Champions Trophy for the first time in history in 1999 in Brisbane, was happy PHF had opted for one-man management.

He said now being the sole authority, there would be no excuse for him and he could be held responsible for any poor performance.

"One-man management is a good policy because only one man should be responsible. Now I will not have any excuse in case of any bad performance," he said.

Shahnaz, however, said he would be assisted by Nasir Ali and Shahid Ali Khan, while selection committee and PHF secretary would also be supporting him, making it a team.

Shahnaz was appointed manager-cum-coach Pakistan Hockey Federation on Saturday, replacing Asif Bajwa after pathetic performances during his tenure. The new set of officials will continue only till World Cup to be played in Monchengladbach, Germany from Sept 6 to 17. They will be replaced by a foreign coach after the event.

Shahnaz will be staging a comeback after three years. He had quit as coach in July 2003 after developing differences with the PHF. He was charged with instigating full-back Sohail Abbas and left-half Waseem Ahmad to play in German league.

Shahnaz admitted that he had little time to prepare the team but added some one had to take charge of the team in the “national interest”.

The Olympian said he had accepted the challenge since a professional hockey player (Akhtarul Islam) was PHF’s secretary.

"The secretary is a technocrat. So it will be easy to exchange views in a better way,” he said.

Shahnaz said he had prepared a four-point agenda under which the players would be required to rectify their previous shortcomings.

"The components of my agenda are vision, mission, commission and omission," he said.

The former selector said vision meant Pakistan would play attacking hockey. "The offence is the best defence. It is the only way to mount pressure against any world class team. So from now on there will be no more defensive hockey,” Shahnaz said.

About mission, he said it was all about winning. "The ultimate goal of every team is to at least stand on the victory stand," he said.

He explained commission meant skills which the players would be asked to improve so that they could be able to put up a good fight.

For Shahnaz, omission was a tactic which would prepare players to take initiative by taking possession instead of waiting.

"It is a hard job indeed but I have made a plan to implement it. If it works, basic problems of the team will be removed,” Shahnaz claimed.

He considered second major drawback was that team had been conceding goals after counter-attacks.

"I have been closely watching the Pakistan matches. I have noticed most of the goals scored against us were the result of the counter attacks,” he said.

The manager is scheduled to reach Karachi from Jeddah on Tuesday to meet PHF secretary.