Hockey World Cup Pakistan finish at last position

NEW DELHI: Pakistan on Thursday sacked its manager, coach and selectors, while the entire squad offered to retire, after the four-time champions finished last at the men's field hockey World Cup.

Scott Tupper scored a golden goal two minutes before the end of extra-time to hand Canada a 3-2 win over Pakistan in the play-off for the last two positions in the 12-nation tournament.

Pakistan, who won the World Cup in 1971, 1978, 1982 and 1994, had finished 11th in the 1986 edition in London. They were sixth in the last tournament in Germany in 2006.

Pakistan return home with five defeats and just one win in the six matches they played at the Dhyan Chand National Stadium in New Delhi.

The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) reacted to the defeat by sacking the team management, including manager Asif Bajwa and coach Shahid Ali Khan, and the selection committee.

PHF chief Qasim Zia said in a statement that an enquiry into the team's performance will be held after it returned home. In a separate statement, the PHF's media manager Shahzad Malik said the entire 18-man squad had offered to "retire from international hockey."

Pakistan took the lead through a fourth-minute goal by Rehan Butt, before Connor Grimes drew level for Canada in the 12th.

Akhtar Ali put Pakistan ahead again in the 46th minute, only to see Mark Pearson equalise 12 minutes later.

Pakistan's penalty corner specialist Sohail Abbas missed two chances in extra-time, allowing the Canadians to regroup. Outgoing coach Khan blamed senior players for the debacle.

"It is difficult to describe how I feel just now," said Khan, a former goalkeeper who was part of the 1982 World Cup winning squad.

"I am ready to quit if our federation wants. But I will first submit a detailed report on our performance in this tournament so that the cause of Pakistan's decline can be firmly dealt with.

"Senior players like Rehan Butt, Shakeel Abbasi and Sohail Abbas let us down. There were high expectations from them, but they did not perform as expected." - AFP