Daily Times

LAHORE: Five players, who were part of the Jakarta Asian Games, were shown the door as an 18-member Pakistan hockey team has been named for the fifth Asian Champions Trophy which begins in Muscat next Thursday. The five players who have been axed from the team are Amjad Ali, Rashid Mahmood, Dilber, Shafqat Rasool and Junaid Manzoor. Those who have earned selection in the team at the expense of the above players are Aleem Bilal, Irfan Jr, Mazhar Abbas (goalkeeper), Rizwan Jr and M. Zubair. Rizwan Sr, who is playing league hockey in Holland, has been retained as captain and will reach directly to Muscat to join the squad. This is not the first time that he had been selected in absentia after skipping the camp and trials. Responding to a query about the selection of Rizwan Sr, chief selector Islahuddin Siddiqui – who announced the team along with manager Hasan Sardar – said Saturday Rizwan Sr was picked as he had gone abroad after securing NOC from the PHF besides making himself available for the country.

Referring to changes in the squad, Islah said the team had been picked on ‘merit’ and from the best available talent. “Performance of players in the Asian Games, camp and the trials were also part of selection criteria,” he added. He stressed upon the need that the forwards should avail chances besides accuracy in penalty corner conversions. “The forwards are not scoring goals despite getting chances while same is the case with PC strikers,” he remarked. He said the forwards and full backs were likely to get four to five chances apiece in a match and it was up to them to go all out to avail the chances. “Scoring of goals will build the team’s confidence.”

Strangely, besides the chief selector, only one selector Qasim Khan watched the two-day trials. While Ayaz Mahmood is out of country the absence of Mussadiq Hussain, who has succeeded Farhat Khan earlier this month, shows lack of seriousness on his part. Islah said he had taken the input of team manager and the PHF secretary while finalising the team besides making it clear that the team was only for the Asian Champions Trophy while a similar process would be carried out for the World Cup.

Sardar was confident that his boys would deliver the goods in the coming event. Regretting the step-motherly treatment meted out to the national game from the government, the legendary centre-forward said despite the depressing scenario with no funds in PHF’s kitty, the team was confident of fulfilling the nation’s expectations. “The team has shaped well which is evident from the fact that it has minimised the margin of defeat in the Commonwealth Games, Champions Trophy and the Asian Games,” he maintained. The former spearhead said he would go for attack and would carry forward the plan of Pakistan’s former Dutch coach Roelant Oltmans who had left in disgust and had signed up as head coach of the Malaysian hockey team up to 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Sardar said he was aiming for his team to finish among top eight at the Bhubaneswar World Cup in December in order to qualify for the 2020 Olympics.

Squad:

Imran Butt (goalkeeper), Irfan Sr, Aleem Bilal, Mubashir Ali, Mohammad Touseeq, Tasawwar Abbas, Ejaz Ahmed, Ammad Shakeel Butt (vice captain), Irfan Jr, Rizwan Sr (captain), Ali Shan, Mazhar Abbas (goalkeeper), Rizwan Jr, Faisal Qadir, Abu Bakar, Umer Bhutta, M. Atiq and M. Zubair.

Officials: Hasan Sardar (manager), Rehan Butt and Mohammad Saqlain (coaches), Mohammad Nadeem Khan Lodhi (video analyst), Dr Waqas (physiotherapist).

Published in Daily Times, October 14^th 2018.