New Delhi, March 6 (IANS) Coach Shahid Ali Khan Saturday termed Pakistan's 3-4 loss to minnows South Africa in the Hockey World Cup as one of their worst defeats.

"Today we were extremely poor. We played a decent first half and took a 1-0 lead. But in the second half, we were nowhere in the game. This loss is one of the worst in the history of Pakistan hockey," said the former goalkeeper, who was the part of Pakistan's gold winning squad at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

"I have never faced such defeat even during my playing days," he added.

"My team is not playing well and everything is wrong with us. We were never the tournament favourites. We came here to improve our rankings, but I never expected such a result."

Criticising the performance of the senior players, Shahid said: "We had recalled 4-5 senior players for this tournament. In fact, all senior played have played badly. They have let us down. We are going to review their performance once we go back home."

On his future as the Pakistan coach, Shahid said: "I have been given charge till the Asian Games and our target is to do well in China (later this year)."

Pakistan's chief selector Hasan Sardar was also disappointed with his team's performance. "It is a shameful tournament for us. We have to review the performance of each and every player of the team."