KARACHI, Oct 28: Pakistan hockey manager Col Zafar Ali Khan Monday admitted his side failed to deliver and he was ready to step down if Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) wanted him to quit.

“I had earlier said I will take the responsibility of team’s performance. Now as the team has failed, I am ready to tender my resignation only if PHF wants so,” Zafar said.

Pakistan had a disastrous year in the hockey field as they fell by the wayside at three major events including the shock 7-1 thrashing by minnows New Zealand at Commonwealth Games.

First the national team lost a semifinal to the Kiwis at the Manchester Games to secure a bronze with 10-2 victory over underdogs South Africa.

It was followed by another dismal show at Champions Trophy in Cologne, Germany, where they first lost to arch-rivals India 3-2 in a league match, and then edged them out 4-3 to pick another bronze.

The greenshirts ended the season with disgrace in Busan, South Korea, when they, for the first time in the game’s history, finished at fourth to return empty-handed from Asian Games.

India avenged their Cologne loss with a 3-2 semifinal win in Busan, while Malaysia hurled Pakistan out of the medals bracket for the first time ever at the Games, winning the bronze medal playoff 4-2 on shootout.

Zafar, who took charge of the squad along with coach Tahir Zaman before Manchester contest, said the ball was now in PHF’s court as he had informed the PHF about his willingness to quit. “I have not met the general (Aziz Khan) and am waiting for the final decision.”

Asked why he didn’t submit his resignation voluntarily he said he was not in a position to take the decision on his own because of what he called involvement of “players sentiments.”

“I can’t take such a decision as now sentiments of players are also involved. They (players) want me to stay,” he added.

Zafar agreed the team, after back-to-back debacles during the year, stood where it was standing two years ago. But, surprisingly, he felt “satisfied” on the overall performance of the team barring matches against New Zealand and Malaysia in Manchester and Busan.

“I would say the team had definitely improved technically. I am satisfied with players performance overall except matches against New Zealand and Malaysia. And then we did not have much time in between the three big events to train the squad.”

He blamed “bias umpiring” for the defeat against India at the Asian Games which he said was done at the behest of South Korean officials.

“South Korea wanted Pakistan to lose so they could avoid us in the final. The Australian umpire deliberately penalised our players to break the rhythm,” he alleged. “And then we lost to Malaysia as the boys were demoralized after losing to India.”

As for loss against New Zealand, he said it was lack of warm- up because of which Pakistan lost to Kiwis. “We preferred Friday prayers and reached the venue late, and the boys played without sufficient warm-up despite rain.”

But at the same time he “praised” his side for winning the bronze in Manchester after beating South Africa 10-2.

“Of course if a team beats another side by 10 goals, then it is a great achievement,” he said when asked was the victory against minnows like South Africa a remarkable achievement.

But Zafar sprang biggest surprise with another whimsical reply when he was asked about the reason why team always crumbled whenever it faced a challenge at a crucial game.

“It has become sort of a national thing. When our nation crumbles whenever it faced crucial times, then why should not our hockey team crumble in crucial matches,” Zafar said laughingly.

The official, who said youngsters in the Indian squad were the secret of their team’s successes, suggested some five to six aging Pakistan players should be shown the door.

“Obviously five or six of them (players) have to go. It is time we should infuse young blood into the squad for future assignments,” he said.

He held the selection committee responsible for fielding aging veterans before the Commonwealth Games, when asked why he was against having youngsters.

“It was the selection committee which insisted on having experienced players despite I asked it to have youngsters.”

Zafar, however, took an amazing U-turn and retracted his statement when asked it is widely believed that it was team officials who insisted on experienced players.

“Yes then we also wanted to win to boost the game and I also asked to have experienced boys so that we could win a title,” he conceded.