ISLAMABAD:
Pakistan hockey coach Shahnaz Sheikh and Captain Mohammad Imran informed the probe committee that the team’s failure was due to insufficient funding and lack of proper patronage from the government, Thursday.
The probe committee had been tasked to find out the reason for Pakistan’s dismissal at the Hockey World League semi finals in Belgium, and recorded the statements of top Pakistan Hockey Federation officials along with the captain.
Pakistan needed to finish at least fifth at the HWL semi-finals to have an outside chance to qualify for next year’s Games in Rio de Janeiro but the eighth-place finish means the three-time Olympic champions miss out on the extravaganza for the first time in their history.
The six-member probe committee met here at Pakistan Sports Complex with its chairman, Federal Secretary Ejaz Chaudhry in the chair. The other members of the committee, Col Mudassar, Shahbaz Senior, Khawaja Junaid and Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) Director General Akhtar Nawaz Ganjera, also attended the meeting.
