A press conference was attended by number of former Olympians and internationals, including former captain Islahuddin Siddiqui, a member of the Pakistan teams that won the World Cup in 1971 and 1978 and who managed them to the Olympic title at Los Angeles in 1984. 

He said: "We demand that the President of the federation Qasim Zia immediately sack Bajwa because he held total powers in the federation and team and had taken on dual roles of secretary and chief coach/manager.

"When he enjoyed complete powers, he must take complete responsibility for the debacle in the World Cup as well."

Pakistan finished last of the 12 competing countries at the World Cup, which was won by Australia.

Islahuddin said: "He [Bajwa] is responsible for our worst ever performance at the top level."

Bajwa, 40, played for Pakistan in the team that won the bronze at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, the last time they won a medal in the Games, and helped them win the World Cup in Sydney in 1994.

Akhtar-ul-Islam, a former secretary of the PHF, warned that Qasim had three days to sack Bajwa or they would step up their campaign.

He said: "If he does not do that, we will launch a countrywide campaign against Bajwa and the federation and also meet with the President and Prime Minister to inform them of what is happening."

Qamar Ibrahim, a member of the Pakistan 1992 Olympic team, claimed that it was unfair to blame sacked coach Shahid Ali Khan for the poor performance in New Delhi.

He said: "No matter what Shahid Ali Khan says now everyone saw on television who was the chief coach of the team.

"Bajwa acted as chief coach despite being the manager of the team."

Ayaz Mehmood, member of the 1984 Los Angeles gold medal winning Olympic team, said if the PHF President did not sack Bajwa then they would press the Government to appoint an ad-hoc committee to run the sport in Pakistan.

He said: "We cannot allow our national game to fall to such depths.

"We have had bad performances in the past but never like this.

"There was no team spirit or management visible in the World Cup."

The Pakistan team, who have all announced their international retirements, arrived home at Lahore Airport last night and were booed by a crowd who also demanded the resignations of Qasim and Bajwa.


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