10-Feb-2012
The News
KARACHI: Pakistan hockey chief selector Hanif Khan defended lacklustre Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) Academy which lost all of its nine matches in the National Championship, arguing that that its players were all under-18.
“All the players in the PHF Academy are below the age of 18 years and therefore expecting from them performance of national level hockey is unrealistic,” Khan told PPI.
The chief selector said that all the departmental teams playing in the national championship own players who have played for Pakistan national or junior team in international events. “But the Academy players are young and inexperienced. They will deliver in the next few years,” he said.
The PHF has been criticised for investing a lot of money in the Academy, which ended at 10th spot in the ten-team event, losing all its matches.
Former hockey great Samiullah, however, remained critical. “If a regional academy had lost all of its matches, it would have been understandable. But such a result from the national academy where players have been gathered from all the regional academies is shameful,” he said. “They should have pulled at least a few victories. Their results show that the federation has invested in the academies for nothing,” Sami said.
Meanwhile, Khan criticised the Karachi Hockey Academy and said the coaches and managers there were incapable of delivering. “I have strong reservations about the Karachi Academy,” he said. “I fear Karachi will not be able to produce quality players as it did in the past if everything goes unheard,” Khan said. |
