Pak’s Olympic winning captain blames ex-Olympians at PHF for game’s downfall

LAHORE: Pakistan’s former Olympic winning hockey captain Manzoor Junior has blamed ex-Olympians associated with the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) for the decline of the game in the country.

“It is unfortunate that these Olympians, who served the PHF and team management in different capacities for such a long time, are now coming up with all these negative statements after Pakistan’s dismal 12th place in the World Cup. It is a fact that they are the ones responsible for the present hockey crisis,” the Daily Times quoted Manzoor, as saying.

Manzoor pointed out that former Olympic stars didn’t do anything for hockey’s development at the grass route level in Pakistan during their 26-year rule, and their short-term measures have led to hockey’s overall destruction.

“The present hockey crisis is the outcome of the over two-decade absence of hockey activities at the early level, which was badly ignored for the youth to lose interest in hockey, our national sport,” he said.

“I don’t believe in criticism for the sake of criticism. They (former Olympians) should rather come forward with useful suggestions to lend support to the PHF in this time of crisis,” he added.

While Manzoor expressed shock at Pakistan’s dismal performance in the World Cup, he insisted that constructive efforts to revive the game would bring back Pakistan’s lost glory.

“But instead of keeping the PHF under fire through this negative propaganda campaign, they should concentrate of making collective efforts for the revival of the game,” he said.