Lahore, Feb 28: The interim set-up running the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) affairs has brought in legends Samiullah, Islahuddin Siddiqui and Hasan Sardar for important roles in a bid to revive the game in the country.
After a shake up in the PHF on the orders of Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Samiullah has been named chief selector while Islahuddin and Sardar have been given the task of making the hockey set-up more professional and result-oriented, and bringing transparency in team affairs and selection matters.
All three belong to the golden era of Pakistan hockey but many now question whether they are the right people for the job, given they remain out of sync with modern day game.
Samiullah disagreed with the notion that their ideas were outdated, pointing out that the need of the hour was to ensure selection of players on pure merit, to have right people to manage team affairs and introduce professionalism among the players.
“All these things have nothing to do with the way hockey has changed. The basic principles always remain the same and you need to do that properly to make any headway in international hockey,” he said.
All three have previous experience of coaching the Pakistan senior and junior teams. Under Islahuddin’s coaching, Pakistan reached the semifinals of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and 2004 Sydney Olympics, besides winning Asia Games gold.
Sardar believes the way forward is to find the best young talent in the country, groom them properly, give them a secure financial future and then expect them to give results.
“For the last few years, the fact that players have had continuous issues of non payment of allowances, poor logistical arrangements in training camps and in international events has taken a toll on their performances,” he said.
For the time being, the interim PHF President Muhuydin Wani has sent former Olympian Khawaja Junaid with the national side to Egypt for the World Cup qualifiers. But, it has not been a popular appointment even with the players and in hockey circles given Junaid’s poor track record as coach of the senior and junior teams many times in the past.
Pakistan players wanted Dutch coach Roelant Oltmans but the interim set up cited shortage of time as the reason for bringing in Junaid again.
Pakistan have to finish among the top three teams in the qualifiers to find a spot in this year’s World Cup, an event they once dominated but have failed to qualify for in the last two editions.
They face Austria, China and Malaysia in their group. (PTI)
