KARACHI: Pakistan hockey great Hasan Sardar on Tuesday hit out at the International Hockey Federation (FIH) for changing the format of the 33rd edition of Champions Trophy.

“FIH has broken a great tradition of the Champions Trophy by changing its format and making it an eight-team competition,” he told APP in an interview ahead of the event which is being played in Auckland, New Zealand from Dec 3 to 12.

Pakistan being the pioneer of World Cup and Champions Trophy launched the event in 1978 under Air Marshal (retd) Nur Khan and won its inaugural edition.

“The basic idea of launching this event was that the champion teams should feature in it and the best teams should contest on single league basis,” recalled Hassan Sardar who appeared in half a dozen Champions Trophies.

“With the new format, Champions Trophy would definitely lose its competitiveness and glamour,” he maintained.

“Teams could have improved by playing against the best so this would not be as attractive as had been in the past.

He said the FIH might be experimenting a new idea but he called for reverting to its original format next year.

“Previously, teams used to play five league matches and top two teams clash in the final. But as per two groups format teams will get only three league games.

Commenting on Pakistan’s chances, he said Pakistan should play at least two good matches for a place in the semi-finals.—APP