Pakistan could have qualified for the Olympics 2016 by winning the last two games at the World Hockey League but this defeat at the hands of Ireland sealed the national team’s fate.
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The loss that hurt Pakistan was Wednesday’s 1-2 result against Great Britain in the quarter-finals.
BRUSSELS: Britain defeated Pakistan in the crucial quarter final match by 2-1 in the 2015 World Hockey League (WHL) tournament being played at Brussels, Belgium. “I had requested the federation time and time again to arrange worldwide tours for the team to provide much-needed worldwide exposure, but no serious efforts were made”.
But Crutchley said that while qualifying for Rio had always been the first priority, his team is “here to win the event”.
There was once a time when hockey writers would run out of superlatives when commenting on the performance of the Pakistani team. “We used to follow hockey with pride but the game is dead now”. “New people should get a chance so that they can do something good for hockey”, Xinhua quoted ex- Olympian Isalahuddin as saying on Saturday.
Pakistan also failed to make it to the World Cup in 2014 for the first time and now they would miss the Olympics.
“This is a sad day for Pakistan hockey”, said captain Muhammad Imran as he walked away from the pitch shaking his head in disbelief.
“We are preparing to form a hockey board just like Pakistan Cricket Board”, Pirzada said.
But they had to hold their nerve to secure a place in the 5th-6th play-off, and it was Alan Sothern who did the trick with a 46th minute penalty corner conversion. Skipper mentioned that playing for Pakistan is a great hounour.
This was yet another disaster waiting to occur, elimination of Pakistan Hockey from Olympics.
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In the meantime, pressure is mounting from ex- Olympians on PHF chief Akhtar Rasool and Secretary Rana Mujahid to resign In the wake of team’s disastrous show in Belgium. These are the sort of officials who have played the lead role in our hockey’s downfall.
