Abusive Indian crowd hampers Pakistani performance in CWG
The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) and the team captain, Zeeshan Ashraf, have blamed the crowd behaviour in Delhi as a key factor behind the poor performance of the Green Shirts in the recently concluded Commonwealth Games.
The behaviour of Indian spectators has become "abusive" towards the Pakistani players after the Mumbai terror attacks in November 2008.
The Green Shirts finished sixth in the hockey event of the Delhi Commonwealth Games. The secretary of Pakistan Hockey Federation, Asif Bajwa, told media reporters about the feedback he had got from the team after they returned home. Bajwa opined that Pakistani
players were subjected to more insults and abuse, than they were used to facing, by the Indian crowd before the Mumbai attacks.
"It is now more difficult for our players when they play in India and there is more pressure on them because of the treatment they get from the spectators", he said.
Asif Bajwa was Pakistan team’s manager in the World Cup held in New Delhi earlier this year where the side finished 12th in the 12 team event and lost his managerial post as a result of the Delhi debacle.
Bajwa said that Pakistan had been under pressure throughout the event because of the crowd behaviour. He said that the performance of Pakistan’s team was disappointing and is not at all making any excuse for his side losing to hosts but the crowd behaviour
was a major factor behind their shoddy performance.
The national captain, Zeeshan Ashraf, said his team came in for some "strong insults and at times even abusive language when they played in the Commonwealth Games".
"Certainly it seems after the Mumbai incident the spectators try to make life difficult for us whenever we play in India. It happened to us throughout the Commonwealth Games which is unfortunate because a sport is sport", Ashraf said.
Pakistan has been thrashed by their arch rivals in both the World Cup and Commonwealth Games. The skipper, however, defended his team’s performance saying that his men did not play badly in the Games.
Comparing Pakistan’s performance against World champions Australia with that of India’s, Ashraf claimed that the men in green fought hard against the mighty Aussies losing by just one goal while India lost to them by eight goals in the final.
Ashraf was positive about a much more improved performance from his side in the Asian Games. The 2011 Champions Trophy is also scheduled to be hosted by India and the International Hockey Federation (FIH) has agreed to give wild card entries to India and
Pakistan for the tournament.
Tags: