ISLAMABAD, March 25 The Federal Sports Ministry on Wednesday denied the 'allegations' levelled by some former Olympians that a late replacement of the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) secretary caused the national team's debacle at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Pakistan finished eighth among the 12 nations in the Games.

“It is wrong to say that the government's decision to change the top management of the federation resulted in poor performance of the national squad during the Beijing Olympics,” a top federal government official told Dawn.

“The government is all set to defend its position and a top sports ministry official is likely to appear before the committee to clear its position,” said the official.

The Federal Sports Ministry had appointed Asif Bajwa as PHF secretary in place of Khalid Mahmood just three months before the Olympic Games in Beijing and a number of Olympians cited this as the main reason for the team's debacle while a facing probe committee on Tuesday.

The three-member probe committee, investigating the debacle, comprises Rana Farooq Saeed as chairman with Olympians Waheed Khan and Shahbaz Senior as members.

“The recommendations of the probe committee will be sent to Prime Minister Yousuf Reza Gilani, also the Patron of the hockey federation, while those responsible for the poor show will be blacklisted.”

The government, he said, would disclose the findings of the report so that the general public could also learn about the factors which resulted in such a dismal performance at the Games.

Our Sports Reporter from Lahore adds Former Olympian Tauqir Dar on Wednesday expressed his disappointment over the unnecessary criticism of Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) by various former Olympians.

In a written statement, Tauqir, son of former Olympian Munir Dar, said that the game needs support from former Olympians at this time and not criticism and all the former and current players should join hands to promote hockey.

Commenting on the recent criticism of current PHF officials by former Olympian Islahuddin, Tauqir said though he (Islah) was a great player himself, he had been attached with the PHF in one way or other since 1983 to 2007 was also equally responsible for the decline of the game.

Tauqir further said that Islah had also been a member of the FIH Rules Board for the last 17 years during which the off-side rule was abolished that had severely damaged Asian hockey.

“I would like to ask Islah that while as a player he made great contributions to national hockey, but what has been his performance after the retirement as coach or chief selector and how many players he groomed in the national team,” asked Tauqir.

He added that if all the former players gave just 20 per cent of their precious time to hockey for practical work on the field, the game's past glory could be revived.