~ World of Sports

NEW DEHLI: Pakistan is scheduled to play minnows Canada for 11th-12th places on Thursday in World Cup Hockey.

Pakistan fared the worst among Asian teams in the current tournament, forced into a play-off for the 11th-12th places against lowly Canada after ending the league with four defeats and one win.

Former Olympians and coaches on Wednesday lamented the poor showing by Asian teams at the men's field hockey World Cup, saying Europe and Australia were now the masters of the game.

None of the three Asian teams in the 12-nation tournament - South Korea, India and Pakistan - qualified for Thursday's semi-finals, the first time since 1998 the continent will not be represented.

It is pertinent to mention here that Pakistan have not won a major competition since their last Cup win in 1994 in Sydney.

Akhtar Rasool, who captained Pakistan during their victorious World Cup campaign in 1982, said proper planning was needed to put Asian hockey back on track.

"It's a huge task to start from scratch, but that is what we need to do," he said. "We must restore the qualities of ball control that we were once famous for and also improve fitness and speed."

KARACHI: Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Ijaz Butt took a U-turn hours after imposing lifetime ban on former captains Younus Khan and Muhammad Yousuf and said that the duo was not banned for life and they can be considered anytime for selection.

Earlier, PCB chose to implement the recommendations of an inquiry committee to also hand out 12-month bans to Shoaib Malik and Rana Naved and fine Shahid Afridi and wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal three million rupees ($35,000) and Umar Akmal two million ($24,000).

"Mohammed Yousuf and Younus Khan... attitude has a trickledown effect which is a bad influence for the whole team (and they) should not be part of (the) national team in any format," the PCB said in a statement on Wednesday.

Pakistan lost every match against Australia in their three-test, five one-day and solo Twenty20 series.

The PCB said the six-member inquiry committee, headed by its chief operating officer Wasim Bari, had based its recommendations on information gathered during several hearings with the players and reports from the team management.

Tafazzul Rizvi, who sat on the inquiry team, said that Yousuf and Younus had the right to appeal and former captain Rashid Latif expected them to win their cases.

"You can't hand out such severe punishments to players of the calibre of Yousuf and Younus Khan," Latif said.

Another former captain Inzamam-ul-Haq was also scathing of the decision.

"Why was action not taken earlier against these players? Why did the board keep quiet for so long when the team was on tour?" Inzamam questioned.