LAHORE: Three former olympians, Islahuddin Siddique, Sami ullah Khan and Shahnaz Sheikh, known for their criticism on the performance of national team, had the longest association with the team from 1988 to 2006 in different roles but failed to lift the sagging fortune of the game and still are keen to have a stint with the team.
The topper among the three of them is Islahuddin who had the privilege of being the coach-manager of the team from 1988 to 2006 and then was the Chairman National selection committee in 2008 and his that long affiliation could not make an impact on the performance of the team which continued its nose-dive journey at international events.Islah started his association with the team as a coach way back in 1988 in Seoul Olympic in which the team finished 5th, then again he was with the team in 1998 in World Cup where its got 5th place, then in Sydney Olympic in 2000 the team under Islah took 4th place, in Asia Cup 2006 it remained at shameful 6th.
And then came Islaha’s worst ever performance as coach-manager in 2006 champions trophy in which team was at 7th place. Islah was the manager of selection committee in 2008 when team finished at 8th place in Beijing Olympics.Number two on the list is Shahnaz Sheikh who as a coach also proved a failure as team got 5th place in 1998 Commonwealth Games. In 1998 Champions Trophy Shahnaz was with the team when its ended up with a wooden spoon at 6th place and could not qualify for the next years champions trophy.In 2006 World Cup Shahnaz’s abilities as a coach had nothing to his credit as the team took 6th place. Pakistan suffered its worst ever defeat in the Asian Games in 2006 in which its obtained third place when China beat them first the first time in history of hockey.
Then comes the name of Samiullah who as coach or manager could not justify his expertise and potential as the team was at the sixth place in 1996 Olympics at Atlanta and at third place in 2004 champions trophy. Sami was also tried as a coach of the jr. team in 1997 but failed to inspire the team which got 5th place in the Junior World Cup.And if one looks at their track record of handling the team it showed that all of them made tall claimed before the start of the tournament and after the failure of the team they shifted the responsibility to multiple reasons.“Their performance as coaches or manager is known to everyone and still they are keen to take over in the same capacity without realizing the fact they had not had any success or title to their credit”, said former olympians, Muhammad Usman, Danish Kaleem, Rana Mujahid, Anum Saeed, Kh. Muhammad Junaid, Shafqat Malik and Khalid Bashir while talking to APP here on Monday.
They were of the view that modern day hockey is completely different from the hockey these olympians played and there is dire need to adopt to new ways of hockey coaching.
Following is the record of other coaches of Pak team, Ayaz Mhamood, 1998 World Cup 5th place, Thair Zaman during his coaching Pak team conceded 7 goals apiece against India and New Zealand in 2003 Champions trophy. 2000 Jr. World Cup qualifier 5th place, 2005 Jr. world cup 7th place, Naveed Alam, 2008 Azlan Shah Cup 4th place, 2008 Beijing Olympic 8th place. Muhammad Asif Bajwa, 2005, Rabobank trophy, 1st place, 2005 Champions trophy 5th place, Azlan Shah Cup 3rd place, Commonwealth Games 2nd place, World Cup qualifer 4th place and Sahara Champions trophy Tarrasa 3rd place – App
