Abbas set to join coach-less camp today

Olympics probables, sans WSH seniors, take part in training.

KARACHI: Following the departure of key hockey players to India for the World Series Hockey (WSH), the Pakistan team management is keenly awaiting the arrival of Sohail Abbas to the Olympics probables’ training camp with the experienced defender due to join today.

Abbas has not been seen in action since breaking his jaw in the Champions Trophy last December but team manager Khwaja Junaid confirmed the world record holder’s plans.

“Abbas will join the camp today and will be advised by the doctors on how much training he should do,” Junaid told The Express Tribune.

Meanwhile, head coach Michel van dan Heuvel is yet to arrive at the camp but he, too, according to Junaid, will arrive in a ‘few days’ after undergoing treatment for a tooth infection in Holland. The manager also dismissed reports of Michel’s differences with the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF), saying that he will ‘definitely’ arrive to supervise the camp.

No decision has been taken on the replacements of Rehan Butt and Shakeel Abbasi, who will be taking part in the WSH despite the tournament not being endorsed by any official federation.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 3^rd, 2012.