LAHORE: Former Pakistan captain Manzoor Junior has slammed the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) and the entire management of the Pakistan team for yet another debacle in the World Hockey League, qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup, and demanded of them to resign, by taking full responsibility of the results.

Pakistan, after losing the quarter-final against South Korea 4-3, also tasted a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Malaysia on Saturday in the World League to play the seventh and eighth position match against South Africa on Sunday in Malaysia and has no chance to qualify for the World Cup through this round.

“The same PHF management led by Qasim Zia and Asif Bajwa was at the helm of affairs when Pakistan finished last in the 12-team contest in the 2010 World Cup in India and after four years the situation is same as we will be fighting for the bottom places,” Manzoor remarked while talking to Dawn on Saturday.

“Though I have no hope that anyone will show character by resigning, I would like to suggest to them to show courage to save hockey from further disaster,” he said.

He also urged the government to seriously consider the situation and hand over the PHF to a suitable man.

The ex-Olympian said he had already pointed out that the national team was selected on a pick-and-choose basis by the PHF and the team management.

He said the PHF had damaged the team by picking up the same officials with changing duties. “Hanif Khan as chief selector could not achieve any big success but despite his failures he was appointed as coach. Similarly, Akhtar Rasool has been advising the PHF since day one but has failed to contribute in the team’s success. And later on he was named as head coach, but the performance of the team under his supervision never improved,” Manzoor pointed out.

He said Malaysia played a fine game on Saturday with better planning and kept the Pakistan team at bay.

“I wonder our team played a defensive game against Malaysia and that too when Akhtar Rasool and Hanif Khan are on the coaching panel,” Manzoor further said.

“The Malaysian dominated the ball-possession as well as ball-controlling,” Manzoor maintained.

He said PHF president Qasim Zia and secretary Asif Bajwa had damaged the cause of hockey by unnecessarily involving themselves in the affairs of the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA).

“For the last two years, both Qasim and Asif have been involved in the POA politics and after Qasim lost POA elections on Feb 4, 2012, they have been involved in forming interim committee of the POA and holding the National Games.

Manzoor said though now Pakistan had the chance to qualify for the World Cup by winning the upcoming Asia Cup, India, South Korea and Malaysia would also be contesting the regional event with the same mission which would make the contest for Pakistan tougher.

He said the main target of the PHF was to win the 2014 World Cup which it had set some five years back on the occasion of assuming charge. But now everyone has seen what kind of planning and preparation it has made for achieving the main target,” he concluded.