Shakeel Abbasi plays centre forward for Pakistan's hockey team. PHOTO: AFP/FILE
Abbasi plays center-forward for the Pakistan's hockey team.
"The hockey coach said that missing a fast can be made up for but not training," reported Express News correspondent Yusuf Anjum.
Hockey coach Akhtar Rasool said that he had forbidden players from fasting while they were supposed to be training.
Earlier, Pakistan’s failure at the Hockey World League (HWL) had triggered calls for the removal of Rasool as head coach.
One of the players Shahnaz Sheikh had warned that even though the team's performance was disappointing, the coaches should be retained so that the players don't lose focus.
“Both the new coaches and the outgoing officials will not admit failure in case Pakistan does not qualify for the World Cup," Sheikh had said.
COMMENTS (52)
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its a matter of team discipline and not religion, an order from the coach is exactly that and it has to be obeyed. Its the same rule for all players in the team. When you are competing at an international level which is so demanding, team strategy, fitness and discipline are paramount. You cannot have players behaving in an incongruent manner whatever his pressures maybe. Coach is right in firing any player who doesnt understand this
@Mian raza: Now you just sound ridiculous.
@ Ansari: The disagreement is between two muslims and their religion. Dont blame liberals or non muslims for your interpretations of very clear religion.
@Asif Khan: And Allah has sent us to pray and worship. There is no excuse in that matter. Even in liberal societies everyone is allowed to practice his religion freely.
@ Ansari : I do not understand why you are bringing liberals or non Muslims into this matter. If two Muslims cannot sort out or agree on their religious matters what does this shows? If religion was so clear and Muslims were so united why the liberals would comment and laugh on you? ET please publish this.
Hey liberals, come on and come out of your cocoons, I am 100% sure that if such thing has happened with any non-muslim player and he was punished for practicing his religion .. it would have been a head line news followed by an unending series of comments claiming Pakistan as the state of religious fanatics and calling for US to increase drone strikes .. Why liberals are so intolerant towards Islamic values ..
PS: Can you publish this ET?
@GAP Mate you cannot mix religion with sports. whether two Muslims agree on a same point or not is their own point of view. And if you really want to target Muslims then my reply to you is wasn't Hitler a christian yet his thinking and majority of Christians thinking is so different about the existence of Jews in the world.
@Kay Dude how many times Christians play their sports on Christmas day. We have EPL on Christmas eve or boxing day or boxing day test match in cricket. Just like that hockey players should be allowed to do freely whatever they want to do when it comes to religion. Pakistan Hockey, Cricket or any other organisation is run by so called government employees and they dont even know what their exact role is. thats exactly why they cannot bring more deserving people upfront with their pathetic decisions... and yet I will call those people idiots especially top two comments because they probably dont know anything about their own religion and they are degrading few sportsmen who have done nothing wrong such as David Warner's pathetic stuff at Birmingham Bar which probably cost Australia Ashes....
@ pakistaniat: you are showing your true color in ramazan. calling bad names and coercing others when you dont have an answer?
@ pakistaniat: nobody teach you that swearing is un islamic?? What happens if there is prayer call during an international match, say in Germany. Would Muslim players leave the match and go to mosque? Please reply without calling names.
I am sure there are ways to avoid this situation. I have read about few NFL players in US practice and participate in matches while fasting for ramadan.
@ Muhammad Usama Aziz: During one day cricket matches in west indies i havn't seen Pakistani players leaving the field for prayers??
@ Muhammad Usama Aziz: So ibadat is preferred over work for muslims. And What happens if there is a prayer call during an international match? Would the whole team stop playing and go for prayers? Please do reply. Thanks.
I am saddened after reading most of these comments who are favoring the fact that he should not play because he is fasting. Idiots this is hockey which can be played under lights. If they want to fast then let them fast and organise camps in evening during ramadan. Just like PCB has organised whole tournament under lights. No wonder why we are so far away from our religion in what is suppose to be a true Islamic country and no wonder our country's situation is so bleak right now just because we have so many idiots living here.
Thats his problem anyways if he wants to fast and thinks he can take practice sessions aswell then you just cant fire him for such pathetic reason.
@KAY: The month of Ramazan does not only include fasting. It also includes doing Ibadat and also the iftar time is in between the normal work timings. So timings are reduced so that people can perform iftar at home and can do ibadat properly.
If fasting has nothing to do with human's energy and behavior than why working hours are reduced in islamic countries during Ramazan??
Training should have been scheduled to accommodate fasting not the other way around. light training in the day and night training or something like that. plus placing the camp in Lahore in this weather and electricity conditions adds to the problem.
Reading the comments, I am amazed to see so much hatred for a player. The (neo)liberals of Pakistan bash religious fanatics for being intolerant, lacking common-sense and standing against others' personal values. I believe they should avoid doing the same.
Fasting or not, its a personal affair and personal decision. Isnt it guys? Cant we respect his personal values?
Sadly, this story is again being made into Islam vs. Rest of the world. We should all try to calm down, relax and at least try to understand the problem here. Why did the coach in the first place ask his players not to fast during training? They weren't actually playing a match, and records show that fasting doesn't affect the individuals capability (something we as kids have witnessed while playing different sports during fasting in the month of ramadan). If while fasting, the players performance during training degrades then you may suspend him or whatever but how can the coach be so sure that this will happen only because of fasting and not because of complacency or limited potential. The only logic I conclude from this article is that the coach isn't competent enough to train the hockey team, restricting someone from fasting during training won't make them world champions.
Reading the comments it is obvious that those commenting do not follow hockey at all. Shakeel abbasi is one of the best players we have at the moment and he is one of the few players that is consistently performing. If Shakeel wants to Fast and practice that is his personal choice. It is the coaches and the management PHF that should be fired. They are the one minting salaries from tax payers money and continuously failing the nation. Players are not to blamed for the sad demise. The system is corrupt.
@Mian raza: Do your research properly...Zidane is a non practicing Muslim..He doesnt fast
Also,Hashim Amla didnt fast when he scored the triple century
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/jul/22/hashim-amla-record-south-africa?newsfeed=true
@ Mian raza: "islam is the most practical religion please do ur research then open ur mouth adt it" Research says Muslims have not invented a single sports in 1400 years? Very very practical.
Another example how confusing is religion. Even Two Muslims cannot agree. Also a proof that Muslims could not invent any sports.
I like how most of the readership on this page is so apologetic and "liberal" - European Football leagues have Muslims who fast and their coaches help them by finding them nutritionists who will help manage their performance during a fast!! The coaches job is to make sure the guy trains - if he refused training, that's a problem....he should be able to train and fast...but if he was willing to train and the coach doesnt want to help him and doesnt allow him to train either...... really....who is at fault here?
Can't the coaches hold the training at night time after the iftar? I'm not sure if hockey matches are played in floodlights or not, but even in the US Muslim kids in their high school teams practice after iftar. There was a whole story about it in the news on one particular high school kid a couple years ago I think.
Hakeem Olajuwon of Houston Rockets played the entire month of Ramadan during 1993 NBA season while fasting. Hakeem was was voted among 50 greatest NBA players of all time. He played days games as well participated in day practiced. The franchise that payed him millions of dollars per year had no issue nor demanded that he should stop fasting. Anyone who have seen NBA games would know that playing a game at professional level basketball require serious fitness whereas practice in a control environment is much easier. Action of PHF is disgusting
Oh no! Now the coach has made himself a target for possible blasphemy charges, just by doing his job.
our hockey coach is muslim? in the holy month of Ramazan Fasting is FARZ for every muslim unless he is seriously ill or sick. My request to ET is not to publish unislamic remarks as its hurts. I think suo moto notice should be taken on this kind of attitude of hockey" KARTA DHARTA"
Its wake up call for our religious PM.
@Vishnu Data Maybe religion doesn't. But please do your research. Islam gives you the perfect way to live.Both, individually and collectively, perfectly.
I am not impressed by the decision of coach. There are players in the English Premier League who fast and still play in matches but their coaches don't bench them. In my mind if a player fasts and still keeps up with the pace of training camp then he has every right to do so.
I am not sure who said that you can make up for the fasting you have left without any valid reason. Coach has never asked Amla to quit the camp if you are fasting. Even football players are fasting in Premier League. Rasool should be kicked out from team for hurting individual's belief
Religion is the first priority. Hashim Amla doesn't fast when he travels to another country and it is allowed in Islam. And it's easy, you can fast during daytime and have training all the night.
“The hockey coach said that missing a fast can be made up for but not training,”
Only if the coach knows the value of fasting in Ramazan, he would not have said these words!! Fasting for whole year is not equal to single fast of Ramazan!!
Cannot the coaches accommodate players to train in the evening time or so during Ramadan (1 out of 12 months). What is harm in that. Why we keep imposing things on others.
Liberal fascism at it's best!
Discrimination for performing religious duties is extreme form of liberal fascism!
@Zafar malik: islam is the most practical religion please do ur research then open ur mouth adt it
our biggest problem is that we dont ubnderstand our religion properlly, actually ramzan help u to develop better skills if u r fasting and doing some skill work, ( any kind of skill work) empty stomach actually helps to coardinate more effeciantly between brain and body, zinadine ziddane the football legend from france has mentioned this theory in his biography and people who knows him know that he was amazing he actually produce some footballing skills to, so any one who wants to do better in any thing sports , study any kind of act even in engineering practice all this things while u r fasting trust me u will see the differnce and u will amaze by the results, if i be a coach of any sports i would perfer my guys to fast and come for training
For a Muslim, fasting is more important than playing games. All members of team should quit training and keep all the fasts. The players should passionately pray for the team's success, Allah will send invisible angels that will play alongside our players, and we will win all our matches.
@Vishnu Dutta: Amla fasts and plays simultaneously. Matter of fact he scored a double century while he was fasting. Please get your facts right
The-oh-so-Islamic Republic of Pakistan, where the hockey coach forbids fasting in Blessed Holy Month of Ramadhan and orders the training sessions to be a must. No wonder why we haven't been progressing.
And for those who think that the coach has made the right decision. Seriously guys? Uhmm... hello.... this is the month of Ramadhan one of the pillars of Islam. I guess you all should know this.
Big players like shakeel abbasi think they are special. Good to put them in their place
There is no justification to stop someone from his religious duties. Fasting is not a forever going thing. The coach should respect Ramadan, no wonder our nation is going through such a difficult time. I request the immediate removal of coach. This all is worldly and nothing is gonna remain here forever. I'm so ashamed to see such comments from Mr. Malik & Mr. Khan.
If players like Afirdi can play cricket under the hit son for 9 hours what's wrong with hockey training? The last time I checked Pakistan was an Islamic country and everyone had a right to practice their faith, at least on paper!
Overdose kills a person.........in pakistan there is overdose of religion...........
@Vishnu Dutta: Sadly had Amla been in Pakistan, he would have been removed for not wearing the official sponsors sign on the shirt. Unfortunately people in Pakistan are less tolerant towards their own religion compared to non-Muslims. Sad times.
Well done Shakeel Abbasi!!! Surely Allah's order is more important than that of a mere coach!!!
It is easy to criticize others for their shortcomings but if you are getting paid (from the tax money we pay) for something as important as national duty and are not loyal to it then you should be kicked out. If you can't handle it then please leave, nobody is forcing you to be part of the system. You can't be at 2 places at the same time.
Fire the coach.
Fair call from the coach. Sports and religion dont mix too well just like politics and religion.
If you are a sportsman then learn to balance it like Amla.