KARACHI, Aug 31: Asia's field hockey playing nations must make a collective effort to overcome their persistent Olympic decline before the next games in Beijing, former Pakistani Olympians pleaded on Tuesday.

Asian powers Pakistan and India, who have eleven Olympic titles between them, finished a poor fifth and seventh respectively while 2000 silver medalists South Korea plummeted to eighth in Athens.

"All is not lost for Asia but we must play each other more and more and target Europe which has snatched the glory from us," said Islahuddin Siddiqui, a former player who coached Pakistan to their last Olympic medal - a bronze in Barcelona in 1992.

The last major event won by an Asian country was Pakistan's World Cup win in 1994. The Netherlands won back to back Olympic titles in 1996 and 2000 and also won the 1998 world title.

"Pakistan and India are paying dearly for abandoning their Asian style of hockey in which we attack with five forwards and two half backs," Islah said. Another former Olympian, Hasan Sardar, said Asian countries should bring in professional hockey leagues like in Europe.

"We need to introduce professional hockey leagues and these clubs should tour other Asian countries," suggested Sardar, a member of Pakistan's gold medal winning team in 1984. "India was a potent hockey force but they have not come up, they need to for the sake of Asia."

Asia's next encounter with European nations and Australia will be in the six-nation Champions' trophy in Lahore in December this year where hosts Pakistan will be the only Asian team. -AFP