Pakistan hockey coach boycotts post-match presser
BHUBANESWAR: Pakistan head coach Shehnaz Sheikh on Saturday boycotted a post-match press conference in Bhubaneswar over ‘misbehavior’ of Indian media.
Some local journalists reportedly misbehaved with the Pakistani coach and skipper in the press confernece.
Coach Sameer Hussain told SAMAA that Indian journalists objected to celebrations of Pakistani players. They hurled
baseless allegations against Pakistani players of making obscene gesture toward the crowd, he said.
In a thrilling contest, Pakistan beat arch-rival Indian 4-3 to set up a final clash with Germany. – SAMAA
Frustrated by Pak win, Indian media accuses players of making obscene gestures | Pakistan Today
Pakistan Hockey Team Head Coach Shahnaz Sheikh boycotted the post-match press conference after the Indian media accused the celebrating Pakistani players with obscene gestures, including finger salutes, directed towards Indian players and the fans.
Soon after the match ended, all Pakistan players took their shirts off and ran wildly on the ground to celebrate their historic victory over India. However, the Indian media said the Pakistani players’ celebration was objectionable, saying the Indians expected them to shake hands with their opponents after the match to maintain the spirit of the game.
The Indian media earlier claimed that the Federation of International Hockey (FIH) had started an investigation into the incident but the FIH released an official statement that “no further action is warranted” on the Indian charge.
“
At the conclusion of the semi-final match between India and Pakistan, which was won by Pakistan, the celebration of the Pakistani team contained some behaviour that warranted further investigation by me as Tournament Director,” Wiert Doyer said in an FIH press release.
“As a result I have spoken to the Head Coach of the Pakistan team, Mr. Shahnaz Sheikh, and told him that the
behaviour of Pakistan players went beyond what is acceptable to standards of the FIH.
“The behaviour in question concerned many members of the Pakistan team. It is difficult to find any particular miscreant, and it is possible that the behaviour of the players may have been a reaction.
“
Mr Shahnaz Sheikh has apologised and assured me that this behaviour will not occur again. Given these matters, I’ve decided that no further action is warranted,” the statement further read.
The match was level at 3-3 until the penultimate minute when Muhammad Qadir’s deflection turned the game towards Pakistan’s way.
“We won the Asian Games final, but we did not didn’t anything like that. This is not the right way to celebrate,” said a visibly dejected India captain Sardar Singh.
Pakistan take celebrations too far | The Indian Express
Written by Mihir Vasavda | Bhubaneshwar |
Posted: December 14, 2014 3:51 am
At the end of the four quarters, there was little doubt that the better side had won the India-Pakistan semifinal. However, as the thousands at the Kalinga Stadium walked out disappointed, the visiting side’s brilliant counter-attacking hockey that destroyed India wasn’t something they were talking about. Instead, it was the Pakistan players’ obscene and expletive-laden celebrations. Moments after the hooter sounded, Pakistan players broke into wild celebrations. They waved their shirts provocatively, flipped the bird and indulged in several other unmentionable obscene gestures and, all directed at the partisan crowd. It went on for nearly 10 minutes. Initially, those in the stands responded by applauding the team’s performance. However, once it got out of hand even they hit back. Pakistan coach Shahnaz Sheikh ran towards the players, slapped his second-choice goalkeeper Amjad Ali and ordered the rest of them to vacate the pitch. But by then, the damage was already done. Sports minister Sarbananda Sonowal, SAI director general Jiji Thomson and International Hockey Federation president Leandro Negre were among the spectators who witnessed Pakistan’s celebrations, described as ‘distasteful’ by India captain Sardar Singh. Later, after a volatile press conference in which Sheikh and Pakistan captain Muhammad Imran staged a walk-out, the latter’s comment that, “they (Indians) can’t even digest our win” added fuel to the fire. The FIH ordered an immediate investigation but tournament director Wiert Doyer let them off after Sheikh issued an apology. “I spoke to the head coach of the Pakistan team, Mr Shahnaz Sheikh and told him that the behaviour of Pakistan players went beyond what is acceptable to standards of the FIH,” Doyer said in a statement. However, he added that it was difficult to ‘find any particular miscreant’ and decided that no further action was warranted. “The behaviour in question concerned many members of the Pakistan team. It is difficult to find any particular miscreant, and it is possible that the behaviour of the players may have been a reaction. Mr Shahnaz Sheikh has apologised and assured me that this behaviour will not occur again,” Doyer said. India’s high performance director Roelant Oltmans said: “From whatever I saw, I thought they went a bit too far,” he said. Sardar too disapproved saying: “Congrats to them for winning the match. But such celebrations are unwarranted. There were families here. The kind of gestures they did were bad. We have beaten them before but never done any such thing. It just leaves a bad taste.” - See more at:
A winning team should be graceful, but I guess its too much asking from Pakistan.