Pakistan's sacked hockey coach Hanif Khan is seething after being made the scapegoat for the national team's poor performance in the recent World Hockey League held in Malaysia where it failed to secure a qualifying place in the next World Cup.
The Pakistan Hockey Federation this week sacked Hanif while retaining former captain Akhtar Rasool as manager and head coach and appointing former Olympian Tahir Zaman to the team management as coach.
Hanif's sacking was on the cards after reports that he was unhappy with the manner in which his powers had been curtailed and Tahir Zaman, who is coaching consultant with the PHF, was sent to Malaysia and interfered in team meetings, selection matters and planning ahead of matches.
"I say today that no self respecting person will ever associate himself with hockey in this country again after the way the federation has managed things in the last few years," Hanif told PTI.
"We need to learn a lot from how hockey is being managed in other Asian countries particularly in Malaysia, China and Japan. This federation needs to learn how to respect its former players," he complained.
The former Olympian said he had tried his best with the team since being appointed the coach last year.
"But I knew things were wrong when all of a sudden Tahir Zaman was brought into the picture by the PHF and Akhtar Rasool also started giving him importance," he said.
Meanwhile, the PHF has recalled its senior players for the Asia Cup training camp and there are also indications that veteran goalkeeper Salman Akbar might be drafted back into the side after some very poor performances from the current two goalkeepers in the national team Imran Shah and Imran Butt.
The players invited for the training camp include: Imran Butt, Imran Shah, Mazhar Abbas, Muhammad Imran, Muhammad Irfan, Muhammad Ateeq, Kashif Ali, Khalid Bhatti, Rizwan Junior, Muhammad Tousiq, Waseem Ahmed, Rashid Mahmood, Fareed Ahmed, Aamir Shahzad, Waqas Sharif, Shafqat Rasool, Zohaib Ashraf, Abdul Haseem Khan, Rizwan Senior, Shakeel Abbasi, Ali Shan, Muhammad Umar Bhutta, Muhammad Dilber, Muhammad Zubair and Muhammad Salman Hussain.
