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ISLAMABAD: Hockey is unlikely to bring any glory for Pakistan at the 2012 London Olympics, according to the assessment of former greats of the game.
Factions within the team, technical and fitness issues and now the ongoing legal battle between the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) and former Olympians are all likely to compound matters for the Greenshirts as they face a mountainous battle in London.
Veteran Spanish captain Santi Freixa commented at the 2011 Champions Trophy that Pakistan were “growing a lot and looking to the Olympics they'll have a great squad.” His view are poles apart from the fate predicted by former Pakistani Olympians who have claimed that the team had no hope at the showpiece event.
“It is technically easy to catch the mistakes of players on the field during a game from afar. We can see those mistakes but when we, like any good coach, voice our opinion we are ignored,” said the national team’s most successful former captain Islahuddin.
“Where is the coach of the team? Where was he during the Pakistan-China series? Who is judging the performances of the players?” former Olympian Khalid Mehmood asked.
The China series, which marked the return of international hockey in Pakistan after a gap of seven years, and a clean-sweep was the only consolation for the Greenshirts after failures at the inaugural Asian Champions Trophy and the Champions Trophy.
“We failed to play as a team and that cost us dearly. The European teams are very tough but had we managed to stretch those patches of good performances into the entire game, we would have achieved better results,” captain Mohammad Imran said after the Champions Trophy debacle where they narrowly avoided the wooden spoon.
Imran also dismissed rumours of infighting among the senior members of the team.
“There are no captaincy issues and I get support from every member of the team.”
But a source within the federation claimed, “The national hockey team right now is divided into three groups. There are those who back Shakeel Abbasi, those who favour Mohammad Imran as skipper and those who just want to play good hockey while minding their own business.”
Add to the mix the fitness disparity between Pakistan and top teams at the Olympics, a failure to finish attacking moves and score of their traditional strength, penalty-corners, chances of the team do in fact look bleak as another former Olympian Shahnaz Sheikh said.
“It is very sad that our team has already dropped from 1st to 9th spot in the world rankings and the PHF is issuing notice to us.”
Earlier, the PHF issued notices to 13 former Olympians by leveling charges of alleged involvement of federation office bearers in human trafficking.
The former Olympians had earlier this month sent a letter to government regarding the performance of the national hockey team and gave suggestions of how to make it better.
