Abbas omitted as seniors return to national squad

Pakistan hockey selectors announced an 18-man national hockey squad for the tour of Europe omitting penalty-corner specialist and world record holder Sohail Abbas who missed the training camp without informing the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF).

The seniors, omitted from the Azlan Shah Cup squad, returned to the side under new coach Michel van den Heuvel as the squad was announced in Karachi yesterday.

Ashraf back as captain

Zeeshan Ashraf, who led Pakistan to a nightmare World Cup earlier this year, was brought back as captain after sitting out the previous tournament and Mohammad Imran, who led Pakistan in the Azlan Shah Cup, was appointed his deputy.

The squad also includes former captain Rehan Butt, striker Shakeel Abbasi, Shafqat Rasool, Waseem Ahmed and Waqas Sharif who were all recalled for the training camp for European tour in which the team will play in Spain and the Netherlands from July 7.

The players who were unhappy following their omission from the Azlan Shah Cup squad only attended the camp after being assured of a fair deal by the PHF President, Qasim Zia.

“The seniors were not dropped or excluded from the team, they were just rested for the Azlan Shah Cup,” said chief selector Hanif Khan.

He was flanked by selection committee members including Arshad Chaudhry, Muhamad Usman and Mussadiq Hussain said the selected players were the unanimous choice of the coach, manager Manzoor Hus-sain Junior and the selectors.

Abbas omission his own fault

“Abbas failed to show up at the training camp despite repeated calls from the federation,” said Khan while giving his reason for Abbas’ omission from the national squad as well as the Pakistan Whites squad that was also named simultaneously.

Nasir Ahmed, the experienced goal-keeper, was unfortunate as he failed to grab the selectors’ attention as he was overlooked from both the teams as well.

Earlier, the selectors named 18-man Pakistan Whites team that will feature in a four-nation tournament in China from July 7 to 11. Waqas Akber will lead the side while Sibtain Raza was named the vice-captain of the team that will also have senior players including Imran Butt, Tasawur Abbas, Zeeshan Ali and Abdul Qayyum.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 1^st, 2010.