KARACHI: England laid bare the falling standard of hockey in Pakistan, former Olympian Samiullah Khan said on Monday in the wake of the national team’s 8-2 Champions Trophy drubbing by the English the other day.

Pakistan’s defeat saw them slump to their second successive pool ‘A’ loss in the eight-nation tournament in the Indian city of Bhunaneswar after Shahnaz Sheikh’s men had lost 2-1 to Belgium in their opening game.

“It will take us years to match the standard of the European teams as our game has down so badly,” he said in an interview a day after Pakistan’s demoralising loss. “The game’s decline once again was exposed by the Europeans.

“Over the last five to six years, our standard has fallen badly while the European teams have progressed by leaps and bounds and now Asian and Pakistan hockey are scientifically and tactically well behind the European standards.

“We might survive in Asia [against teams like India, South Korea and Malaysia] but the going gets tough when we play against the top six teams in the world.”

Samiullah, who was given the title of ‘Flying Horse’ for his speed and skills in his playing days, blamed the team management for not having a back-up plan after going down 5-0 at the half-time against England.

“We should have concentrated on breaking the rhythm and tempo of England with better ball possession but we failed to do so,” he commented. “Under pressure, Pakistan team management failed to work out any strategy or a plan.”

He blamed current hierarchy of the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) for the present state of affairs.

“This is due to the poor policies and lack of planning by the PHF,” he said, adding if the team continues on its current path it might as well miss out on qualifying for the 2016 Olympics having also failed to qualify for the FIH World Cup earlier this year.

“A gigantic effort is needed for revival of the game and we have to work from the grass-roots level,” he said. “But first of all we need honest and dedicated people running hockey affairs.”

Tuesday’s fixtures (all times PST):

Germany vs Argentina at 11:30am; Belgium vs England 1:30pm; Pakistan vs Australia 5:00pm; India vs Netherlands 7:00pm.

Published in Dawn December 9th , 2014