LAHORE: Expressing utter disappointment at Pakistan hockey team’s disastrous show in the recently-held Asian Games which included a 10-2 drubbing at the hands of India, former Olympian Samiullah Khan on Tuesday said the crisis demands all stakeholders while keeping aside vested interests combine and work sincerely for the revival of the national game.

Eight-time Asian Games gold medallists Pakistan, who finished a poor fifth in the 12-nation hockey event of the Asian Games in Hangzhou, have failed to win a major international hockey title in the past many years. The disaster also featured a massive 10-2 thrashing by India. Having remained winless in global events like the World Cup, Olympics and the Champions Trophy since 1994, Pakistan have now even faltered in Asian-level competitions.

Talking to Dawn exclusively from London, Samiullah said Pakistan team’s heavy defeat in Hangzhou was unacceptable and clearly showed hockey in which the country had enjoyed a glorious past for decades — was in absolute tatters.

“Before analysing who is responsible [for the defeat], the current turmoil demands all of us sit down in the national, and not in vested interests, to think how we can come out from this unprecedented decline,” Samiuallah said.

He continued, “Presently, our hockey is passing through its worst period for which we all are responsible, especially we the Olympians, who could not sit together by forgetting personal egos just for the cause of hockey.

“The government should also take firm steps to revive hockey as it is also the failure of the government, which could not take concrete measures to bring good people at the helm [of hockey affairs],” Samiullah said.

Samiullah advised the PHF president retired Brig Khalid Sajjad Khokhar to sacrifice his ego and step down so that a sincere forum of all the stakeholders could move forward towards the betterment of the game.

When asked if the government interference in the Pakistan Hockey Federation’s affairs could force the FIH to ban Pakistan’s membership, he said the government being a key stakeholder in promoting sports should play its due role in this regard “by taking care of national interest and by avoiding to advance like-minded people”.

Samiullah also lamented that the government formed a three-member committee — comprising big names of Olympians Shahnaz Sheikh, Akhtar Rasool and Islahuddin Siddiqui — to investigate the performance of the PHF headed by Khokhar during the last eight years;

Samiullah said instead of working with sincerity and without prejudice, first Shahnaz joined the PHF camp, against which he had been assigned to investigate the federation’s performance.

“To the surprise of many, Shahnaz joined the Khokhar-led PHF as head coach, some three months ago. This is not enough. Islahuddin was interested to become PHF president in case Khokhar was removed,” Samiullah further said.

“This is not the spirit we need to improve Pakistan hockey. I want to invite top ten hockey Olympians to come forward and sit together without any personal interest or ego to bring back our glorious days in hockey.”

The affairs of Pakistan hockey had become so bad that no coach except Dilawar accompanied the national team in Hangzhou, Samiullah regretted.

It may be mentioned here that after Shahnaz was named the national team head coach, he replaced Mohammad Saqlain and Rehan Butt from the coaching panel and brought in Shakeel Abbasi. But neither Shahnaz nor Shakeel had accreditation of the Asian Games.

This unwanted scenario left Dilawar as the only person on the Pakistan national team’s coaching panel for the Asian Games.

Published in Dawn, October 11th, 2023