Defeat against France is a surprise, says Shahnaz Sheikh
Shahnaz Sheikh, the former Olympian and the legend of Pakistan hockey over the years, stated that the performance of the Pakistan national hockey team against France in their opening match of the European campaign, played in Dublin, Ireland, is shocking
and alarming for the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF). Greenshirts lost their opening match against France by 4-2, on June 21.
Shahnaz Sheikh, the former legendary player of Pakistan hockey, stated his feelings after the shocking defeat of Pakistan national hockey team against France, “Perhaps the defeat may not be that ugly, which the result suggests. It may be only the weather
factor and after an extensive training camp in sizzling Islamabad, the team might have failed to deliver in chilling cold of Dublin. However, if a team is preparing for an impressive show for the Champions Trophy and Olympics then such results are enough to
raise many eye-brows.”
Sheikh also stated that the Greenshirts performed well only against the Asian teams. Whenever they are up against the European teams they do not perform according to their capabilities, in fact they fail to deliver. Their recent performance in the Azlan
Shah Cup tells the same story, where they defeated the Asian teams along with New Zealand quite comprehensively, but lost to Australia and England. In the Asian Games that were held last year in China, the Greenshirts took out the gold medal after twenty years,
but the opponents here were also the Asian sides.
The reason of the poor performance against the European teams is quite obvious and it is due to the defensive play by the Greenshirts that led them to poor performance. The European teams played pressure game that put the Greenshirts on defensive mode, which
is not their natural style because Pakistan team always played aggressive and attacking hockey and it has been the natural style for the Greenshirts since they appear in the horizon of international hockey.
He also suggested PHF to find the roots and causes of this humiliated defeat against one of the world’s lowest ranked teams.
Tags: