Hockey: PHF shows Heuvel the door

Dutch dismissed as head coach after ‘intolerable attitude’.

KARACHI:

Four months before the London Olympics, the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) has sacked head coach Michel Van Dan Heuvel following an ‘intolerable attitude’ by the Dutchman as the Greenshirts prepare for the mega event.

Former PHF chief and captain Olympian Akhtar Rasool has been named as the coach and manager for the event in London.

Meanwhile, Khwaja Junaid, who was serving as manager, will assist Rasool, while the other members of the team management including coach Shahid Ali Khan remained unchanged.

The decision was taken in the PHF Executive Board meeting, which took place in Lahore yesterday, with all the members showing consent on the decision.

Heuvel created controversy by skipping the first phase of the training camp that kicked off Pakistan’s final preparations for the Olympics. According to officials, the federation received several excuses from the coach but the PHF learnt that the coach had signed a contract with a club side in Holland, breaching his contract as Pakistan head coach.

While the Dutchman, in an interview with The Express Tribune, expressed his willingness to continue till the Olympics, the PHF Secretary Asif Bajwa said the decision became unavoidable.

“Heuvel’s breach was intolerable,” Bajwa told The Express Tribune. “He skipped the important training camp and violated the contract by signing a contract with another team.

“The PHF cannot bear such an attitude with the Olympics around the corner.”

The PHF secretary added that a legal notice to Heuvel, for the breach of contract, will be served.

Hopes for betterment

Pakistan won the gold medal in the Asian Games in 2010 and claimed a tri-series in Australia, beating the hosts during Heuvel’s 20-month association with the team. However, Bajwa hoped for better results from Rasool.

“We are lucky to rope in Rasool. He has high credentials and is an inspirational figure which will be a huge motivation for our players.

“The other members are the same and have a good understanding with the players which is a positive thing.”

Decision due on defected players 

Meanwhile, the executive board referred the matter of the players who defected to the unauthorised World Series Hockey (WSH) to its disciplinary committee led by Wasay Jalil.

Six players including the experienced duo of Rehan Butt and Shakeel Abbasi - featuring in Pakistan’s preliminary squad for the Olympics - defected to the league despite strict warnings by the federation.

However, the PHF seemed to have softened its stance toward these players.

“The disciplinary committee will decide their fate.

“All the players will be given a chance to present their version. Then it will be up to the committee to decide as per guidelines of the FIH [world Hockey Federation].

Both Butt and Abbasi are dubbed as an important part of the team with the latter being the favourite to be named captain.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 16^th, 2012.