Hockey: Olympians help a face-saving tactic says former player

PHF move criticised by former player who questioned credibility of the meeting.

KARACHI: While criticising the Pakistan Hockey Federation’s (PHF) move to invite legends for their input ahead of London Olympics, former player Naveed Alam termed the exercise a face-saving tactic and a cover-up for the federation’s wrong policies.

The PHF had invited Olympians to discuss strategy and boost preparations for the London Olympics, a meeting chaired by PHF President Qasim Zia.

“It’s just face-saving,” Alam told reporters at Karachi Press Club. “The federation is wasting millions on a foreign coach but still relying on the same faces for the last ten years. Despite spending so much, we don’t have a good back-up of players. We may have won some events but we fail to impress in front of top teams.”

Alam also questioned the credibility of the meeting terming those present employees of the federation and added that the real greats who served the nation opted to stay away.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 30^th, 2011.