September 23, 2006	Saturday	Sha'aban 29, 1427

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LAHORE, Sept 22: Chairman of national hockey selection committee Khalid Mahmood on Friday hinted that captain Mohammad Saqlain might face disciplinary action for holding manager-cum-coach Shahnaz Sheikh responsible for the debacle at World Cup in a press statement.

"Under the code of conduct, as a part of the squad no one is allowed to criticize the performance of other members of the squad publicly," the chief selector told reporters.

Pakistan finished sixth at World Cup in Germany this month under coach Shahnaz Sheikh who took over the charge only few weeks before the event.

Khalid said Saqlain never criticized Shahnaz when he was appointed coach and held him responsible only after the poor performance of the team.

"Neither Shahnaz nor any PHF official criticized the performance of any player of the team in public because of code of conduct. It was only Saqlain who gave such a statement and showed an irresponsible attitude," he said.

Khalid said there were several reasons behind poor performance of the Pakistan team in the World Cup.

"The boys are physically week as compared to the European players. And when players are physically week then weaknesses in other technical departments become secondary,” said chief selector while admitting that performance of the team was below par.

"To be honest, I was expecting that Pakistan would finish at least fourth but it slipped to sixth spot,” he said.

Khalid said a long-term coach should be appointed as quick changes had done a great damage to the game in the country.

"I attended a hockey seminar in Germany during the World Cup where the experts were of the opinion that India and Pakistan are facing decline due to frequent changes of coaches. The European teams have the coaches on long-term basis but in India and Pakistan there is short-term planning," he said while quoting the experts.

The chief selector said paid coach and manager should be appointed on long-term basis to yield better results.

"We (PHF) will definitely meet soon to finalize the future planning. I will suggest to pick coach and manager purely on merit, and offer them salary and a long-term job," he said.

Khalid said he was not against hiring foreign coaches but added the European teams had started appointing local coaches which should also be done in Pakistan.He hinted no big changes in the team for the forthcoming Asian Games to be held in Doha, Qatar from Dec 1 to 15.

"We have to reduce the players from 18 to 16 for Doha Games. Apart from reducing the number of players, I think there will be no big changes in the team," he said.

He said the Asian Games were “tough competition” since besides India, South Korea and Japan were “strong rivals”.

A new selection committee is likely to be formed by the new PHF president Zafarullah Jamali besides changes in the team management.