Hockey India refutes Pakistan coach’s claim of India backing out of the final
The Hockey India has categorically refuted the claims made by the Pakistan Hockey team coach who stated India denied to play the rain hit Asian Champion Trophy final. India and Pakistan were declared the joint winners of the tournament after a thunderstorm landed on the final match schedule.
India went unbeaten in the Asian Champions Trophy tournament held in Oman recently. It was a good preparation for the upcoming Hockey World Cup to be held in Kalinga Stadium in Odisha. Recently, after the Asian Champions Trophy ended, The Pakistan Hockey coach Hasan SardarÂ
“It’s a blatant lie. It was Pakistan who didn’t want to play as they had a return flight at 3 am in the morning. Our flight was next day so we had no problem in waiting. By the time rain stopped, it was already 10.30 pm local time and if the match was to start, it would have taken at least two more hours to prepare the pitch. The pitch was completely flooded, even the Tournament Director, broadcasters and commentators rooms were flooded,” the HI official said.
Earlier, after India and Pakistan teams had been declared the joint winners of the tournament the Pakistan team’s coach had claimed that it was the Indian team which had denied to play the final citing poor playing conditions even though his team was ready to wait.
“Our boys were pumped up for the final match. Even after the heavy rains, we told the organisers we will play if they wanted the final to go ahead. But the Indians refused because of the conditions,” Sardar said on Wednesday in Karachi.
On a different note, the Pakistani team had finished second in the points table in the round robin stage losing
“People need to understand the mental state of our players and officials at the moment. The players responded magnificently despite not getting their full daily allowances. There were problems with the hotel booking as well adding to the strain on us. But I say hats off to the PHF President, Brigadier (retd) Khalid Khokar who managed to arrange funds to pay off the hotel dues and give some peace of mind to the team,” he said.