PHF to snub Abbas once again

Unhappy with Sohail Abbas’ attitude prior to the Europe tour, the PHF decided not to invite him for national camp.

KARACHI: Unhappy with Sohail Abbas’ attitude prior to the Europe tour, the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) has decided not to invite the short-corner specialist for the national camp ahead of the Commonwealth Games.

The PHF secretary Asif Bajwa said that the federation will not include Abbas in the list of probables who start preparing for the Commonwealth Games next month.

“We will not be inviting Abbas for the Commonwealth Games camp, we do not need him anymore,” Bajwa told The Express Tribune.

Abbas, the world’s leading goal-scorer with 300, skipped the team’s training camp for the Europe tour last month and decided to opt for the a Bangladeshi League without informing the PHF, after he was disgruntled on his omission for the Azlan Shah tournament.

Bajwa said the federation played its role by inviting the drag flick specialist repeatedly and will not ask him again to join the camp.

He also claimed that the team performed well on the Europe tour and did not miss the veteran player as Pakistan attempted to retain its lost status in hockey.

“The team showed improvement in Europe where we achieved satisfactory results without Abbas.”

Pakistan will prepare for this October’s Games to be held in New Delhi in two phases. The first stage will start with a training camp in Abbottabad from August 12 to 26. The team will then fly for a training camp to Netherlands from September 1 to 20. Bajwa said that chief selector Hanif Khan would announce the list of probables soon.

PHF happy with Heuvel

The PHF has expressed their satisfaction for Michel Van Den Heuvel following the Europe tour which was the Dutch’s first assignment as coach.

Pakistan drew all their three matches against Spain and won the only battle against France before drawing the two-match series against Holland during their two-week long sojourn.

Bajwa, who accompanied the team in Europe, said he saw positive changes in the team.

“There were some notable changes in the team. The coach has brought positive changes and we are happy with his performance.”

Heuvel is currently in the Netherlands and will be returning before the Abbottabad camp to supervise the team’s training.

“Heuvel will be back early next month to join the team and we are hoping for better results under him in the Commonwealth Games,” said an optimistic Bajwa.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 28^th, 2010.