CHANDIGARH: Unhappu over the humilating performance of Indian Hockey team at World cup, former stalwarts Wednesday sought  overhauling of Indian Hockey Fedration (IHF) in the country and wringing in major changes in the present team which they said lacked the spirit to win matches.

Ashok Kumar, former Indian captain and son of the legendary Dhyan Chand, said the team was paying the price for the flawed policies of the Indian Hockey Federation."It just did not appear as if the team had gone there to play seriously", he said

"The demand of the hour is to focus on domestic hockey, we have been getting disastrous results because more concentration is being paid to international hockey. We have achieved nothing by sending our team for frequent international tournaments, perhaps it has only served the personal interests of IHF," he said.

Ashok did not spare the coaches as well, saying most of them lacked the credentials to guide the team.

"The coaches are incompetent and lack the required calibre and knowledge to prepare the players for international level competitions," said the player best known for scoring the goal that gave India World Cup victory in 1975.

The former famed left-out Zafar Iqbal said the performance of the Indian team reflected the sad state of the game in the country.

"The World Cup performance of Indian hockey team has been pathetic, there have been no positives at all. During all the matches the team was in a defensive mode. They were not attacking at all and it appeared they were playing for a draw instead of pushing for a win," said Iqbal, who formed a lethal pair with Mohd. Shahid in his hey days. Iqbal was of the view that the team lacked quality players.

"Physical fitness is also one important aspect where we lag behind other teams. IHF must do something about it," he said.

Veteran right-winger Mukesh Kumar felt the team missed the presence of Sandeep Singh, ruled out of the tournament at the last minute following an injury that he sustained in an accidental firing.

"Sandeep's injury came as a big blow to the team. I feel the rest of the players lost confidence because of his absence," he said, adding the team generally lacked quality players.

"Our players play well throughout the game, but suddenly lose confidence in the last few minutes. Perhaps it is because there are no quality players and the existing ones do not prepare well," said the former forward.

He suggested that experts should be called to train the team and each player should develop his own style with different variations.