Pakistan hockey coach Shahnaz Sheikh resigns

Move comes weeks after Pakistan hockey chief also resigned from post following Olympic failure

Pakistan hockey head coach Shahnaz Sheikh resigned from his post on Thursday months after the national team failed to qualify for the Olympics for the first time in its history. 

The resignation came during a Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) meeting in Islamabad. Further, it was decided in the meeting that PHF secretary Rana Mujahid Ali will maintain his position till 2018.

The meeting, which was attended by 95 of the 105 members of the hockey federation, was held in Crown Plaza Hotel, Islamabad. The main agenda of the afternoon was for the new federation president, retired Brigadier Khalid Sajjad Khokhar, to take a vote of confidence from the members.

Pakistan, which has won Olympic gold in the sport three times and the world championship four times, finished eighth in the Olympic qualifying rounds in Belgium in July, and will now not take part in the Rio Olympics in 2016.

The 43-year-old, who was part of the 1994 World Cup winning team, is an International Hockey Federation (FIH) qualified coach and has served Egypt and Azerbaijan besides having a stint with the Greenshirts a decade ago.

Earlier this month Pakistan’s hockey chief Akhtar Rasool also handed in his resignation, saying, “I have resigned from the post for the best interests of the country and for the sake of our national sport.”

Pakistan’s hockey has seen a serious slump since they won the 1994 world title in Australia.

Pakistan finished last in the World Cup held in India in 2010, and have also failed to qualify for the 2014 World Cup in the Netherlands.