September 27, 2006	Wednesday	Ramazan 3, 1427

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LAHORE, Sept 26: Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) president, Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, on Tuesday cited groupings in the team as well as weak physical condition of the players as the two major reasons for the team’s dismal performance in the recent World Cup in Germany.

"I got to read a few portions of coach Shahnaz Shaikh's report and have also received information from various quarters that there were groupings in the team and it lacked harmony," said the president while talking to newsmen prior to a PHF meeting here.

"If there are factions within the team and no coordination between players and the team management, there is no way anyone can get positive results,” he said.

Commenting on any possible action against captain Mohammad Saqlain for issuing press statements against coach Shahnaz Sheikh, the president said the captain has expressed his regrets in this regard and has apologised to the federation for his conduct.

"The PHF has pardoned Saqlain but not without a strict warning that such actions will not be tolerated in future and that he will also have to apologise to Shahnaz himself," Jamali specified.

When referred to Saqlain’s statement that he would quit hockey if the PHF did not appoint a foreign coach, the president said it was not the captain’s domain to speak on the issue.

"If he (Saqlain) issues any further statements of such a nature he will go home. It is the PHF which has to decide what is suitable and what is not," emphasised Jamali.

The former prime minister added the European players were physically much stronger compared to Pakistanis and that was also a major factor in the game’s decline in Asia.

The president, who met the World Cup team earlier on Tuesday, said that he had categorically told the players that in future the PHF would not tolerate any sort of indiscipline from them.

"The players have been told to concentrate on their game and come to us for redressal of grievances instead of making a public show of it," he stressed.