Pakistan’s sacked hockey coach Hanif Khan is seething after being made a scapegoat for the national team’s poor performance in the recent World Hockey League in Malaysia where they failed to secure a qualifying place in the next World Cup. The Pakistan Hockey Federation earlier this week sacked Hanif while retaining former captain Akhtar Rasool as manager and head coach and appointing former Olympian Tahir Zaman to the team management as coach. Hanif’s sacking was on the cards after reports that he was unhappy with the manner in which his powers had been curtailed and Zaman, who is coaching consultant with the PHF, was sent to Malaysia and interfered in team meetings, selection matters and planning ahead of matches. “I say today that no self respecting person will ever associate himself with hockey in this country again after the way the federation has managed things in the last few years,” Hanif said. “We need to learn a lot from how hockey is being managed in other Asian countries particularly in Malaysia, China and Japan. This federation needs to learn how to respect its former players,” he complained.
