January 29, 2003	Wednesday	Ziqa’ad 25,1423

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KARACHI, Jan 28: The premier hockey event — the National Championship — has attracted more sponsors than national selectors who have opted to stay away from the contest.

The 12-day competition being participated by 18 top outfits of the country, has entered into the third day, but neither the chief selector Akhtar Rasool, nor the selectors Saeed Khan and Saleem Nazim, have bothered to come to watch the players.

Interestingly, Saeed, who had been appointed member of the selection committee for the second time by the present Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF), had resigned in the past from his post, saying he did not have enough time for selection duty.

The only Karachi-based member of the selection committee Hassan Sardar, and Pakistan Whites manager, Sami Khan, could be seen at UBL Sports Complex where the championship is being played.

Surprisingly, Sami is here as he has been assigned by the PHF to select players for Whites, despite the fact that he is not a part of the selection committee.

Ironically, Hassan has always been advocating for sweeping powers to the coach, after abolishing the selection committee. However, now Hassan is a member of the selection committee which has also been termed as “think tank” on his proposal.

Apart from selecting the national squads, “think tank” has also been entrusted by the PHF to tap new talent at grassroots level.

Also missing from the venue are Pakistan senior team coach Shahnaz Sheikh and manager Col Shahid Jafri (retd). Both are team officials but are a part of the selection committee also.

It’s a routine business in Pakistan hockey that selectors hardly bother to visit training camps or the domestic tournaments, but pick the squads merely after watching one-day trials.