September 14, 2007	Friday	Ramazan 1, 1428

KARACHI, Sept 13: Pakistan hockey captain Rehan Butt and coach Islahuddin on Thursday blamed poor umpiring for team’s ordinary faring at the Asia Cup in Chennai last week.

Talking to reporters here, Rehan said that Pakistan got a raw deal from the umpires in some of the matches which cost Pakistan dearly in the tournament.

Chief Coach Islahuddin Siddiqui, endorsing Rehan’s viewpoint, said: “Korean umpire did great injustice to Pakistan by not awarding them two penalty strokes against Malaysia. We were leading 3-0 at half time but below-par-umpiring made it 3-3 despite Pakistan’s good show.”

He said he had also brought video footage as proof of poor umpiring. “You can not fight with luck and poor umpiring,”

Islah, however, accepted full responsibility of his team’s poor show in the event. “I take full responsibility for our ordinary performance.”

The three time champions finished in poor sixth position in the Asia Cup, which was won by hosts India.—Agencies