ISLAMABAD, July 16: Pakistan hockey secretary Brig. Musarratullah Khan on Saturday admitted full responsibility for the national team’s seventh-place finish at the Junior World Cup but said he would resign only if it were proven there had been slackness on his part.
“The impression that a new management at the helm of affairs will work miracles is wrong and those calling for my resignation should first consider what exactly is the domain of the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF)”, he told reporters here.
Musarrat while conceding that he was dejected because of the results pointed out that the PHF did all it could to facilitate the national seniors and junior strings.
“Our domain is to provide them the best of facilities and give them intensive international exposure, which we did despite financial constraints.”
Pakistan were rated among the favourites to win the title in Rotterdam but unfortunately could not do what was expected of them in a tournament won by outsiders Argentina.
“In every setback, there is a silver lining and today we have a full team ready for next year’s World Cup in Germany and 2008 Beijing Olympics. No wonder the results in Rotterdam have been embarrassing, yet I am convinced that this side has great potential.”
Musarrat cited three reasons that led to the team’s downfall with the first being improper handling of the team by the bench management; second, the decision to send juniors along with the senior string to the Azlan Shah Tournament that preceded the Junior World Cup and third was individual play.
The PHF, he said had three options for the Azlan Shah competition, the first of which was to send only the senior squad to compete.
“The second choice before us was to dispatch a combined team while the third option was to go for only the juniors.
“There were intensive deliberations on the matter following which it was agreed unanimously to have a combination of junior and senior players.
“It was a collective decision and it is wrong to single me out for the results and I think that others involved should also take blame.”
That decision though provided good results initially with Pakistan winning their matches early on before it began to backfire with the team surprisingly failing to make the final.
“Some of the junior players who were not given a chance or were played only briefly in the Azlan Shah event lost confidence when they went into the Junior World Cup and the team began to decline.”
Musarrat disagreed that the PHF had now run out of options in their bid to end the title-drought that has seen Pakistan go without a major crown for almost 11 years now.
The national side’s last international titles of significance were the 1994 Champions Trophy and the World Cup in Sydney the same year.
“We still have plenty of options and a future course of action will be decided once the reports by the chairman of the selection committee and team manager are submitted.”
Musarrat said that a meeting with the PHF president Tariq Kirmani was likely on Tuesday following which it would be decided what measures were to be undertaken. “If the president orders a probe or suggests any other steps to rectify the situation remains to be seen.”
The secretary, meanwhile, made it clear that he had no regrets whatsoever over the hiring of Dutch coach Roelant Oltmans, who is now no longer with the team. “I think it was the most appropriate decision and if finances permit, we will hire another foreign coach.”