LAHORE: Khawaja Junaid has resigned as the Pakistan hockey team manager ahead of its participation in the Commonwealth Games, Pakistan Hockey Federation secretary Asif Bajwa confirmed on Tuesday.

Bajwa told Dawn that Junaid, who was previously the head coach, wasn’t happy with the manager’s role and had requested the PHF on several occasions to relieve him of his duties.

“Finally, his resignation as manager of the team has been accepted. But in the future, the PHF may offer him another suitable job with his consent to take benefit of his technical expertise,” Bajwa said.

The PHF secretary categorically denied the impression that Junaid’s resignation came as a result of Pakistan’s failure to qualify for the World Cup after the team finished fifth at the Asia Cup in Jakarta last month, or due to the ongoing inquiry into it.

Following his resignation, Junaid has left the team’s conditioning camp for the Commonwealth Games, which is currently underway in Abbottabad.

During the Asian Games, Junaid had been castigated after an error in Pakistan’s game against Japan where the team’s equaliser in a 3-2 defeat had been chalked off as they had an extra player in the field.

Pakistan’s Dutch head coach Siegfried Aikman had accepted the responsibilty for that error and Bajwa said on Tuesday that Junaid had played no part in that.

“Junaid as manager has no role to send the player in the ground or call them back as it is the authority of the coaches’ panel during the match.” Bajwa said.

Bajwa also informed that head coach Aikman’s work visa’s issue had been settled and hopefully he would reach Pakistan by July 2 to join the condition camp.

It was the appointment of Aikman as well as other coaching staff before the Asian Games that saw Junaid being handed the manager’s role.

Junaid said on Tuesday that he wasn’t happy with his role as team manager.

“As a professional coach, I was not happy with the nature of the job as manager.” Junaid told Dawn. “I feel I was not mentally ready for the job.”

Junaid said the PHF was making efforts to put back the national team on a right track and those efforts will produce some positive results.

Published in Dawn, June 29th, 2022