February 18, 2003	Tuesday	Zul Hijjah 16, 1423

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KARACHI, Feb 17: While the chief coach Shahnaz Sheikh on Monday finally reached here after a two-day absence, selectors did not bother to visit the national hockey training camp.

After missing the opening two days of the camp, Shahnaz supervised the evening session, with Tahir Zaman assisting him.

According to coach, he was unable to report at the camp on day one because he was attending to his ailing father-in-law in Rawalpindi.

The camp has been set up at Steel Mills Sports Complex for the Azlan Shah Cup in Ipoh, Malaysia, from March 22 to 31 to be participated by world champions Germany, South Korea, India, Malaysia, and New Zealand.

But sadly, the selectors and their chairman did not deem it necessary to visit the camp. Hassan Sardar came on the second day only because he is a Karachi-based selector. The former captain was, however, absent from the camp on Monday.

Shahnaz, who is also among the selectors, neither saw the recently-concluded national championship nor was present during the trials to select the probables.

Apart from Shahnaz, another selector, Saeed Khan did not watch the national championship and was also unavailable for the trials to select the 37 probables for the camp.

Interestingly, Saeed has been appointed selector for the second time by the present hierarchy of the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF). He had resigned as selector earlier saying he would not be able to give time to selection duty.

It has become sort of a tradition in Pakistan hockey that selectors neither see the major tournaments nor visit training camps.

However, the rubber-stamp selectors take part in the selection process to finalize the squads for the events like the Olympics, World Cup, and the Champions Trophy after watching couple of sessions of the final trials.

Akhtar Rasool heads the selection committee, with Hassan, Saeed, Saleem Nazim, Shahnaz, Col Shahid as its members, while PHF secretary, Brig Musarrat Ullah Khan, is a co-opted member of the selection committee.

Shahnaz said Rehan Butt also reported on Sunday night, Jawaid Iqbal was expected late Monday night, while there was no information about Ghazanfar Ali.

PHF has called up 37 probables of which 34 have reported, while three, including injured Asim Chohan, Ghazanfar, and Iqbal, are yet to join.

Shahnaz said Shabbir Hussain and Saleem Khalid were on the injury list and did not take part in the sessions. Shabbir injured his nose on the second day during a practice session, while Khalid is suffering from a stiff thigh.

“Saleem had injured his thigh during the national championship. Both, Shabbir and Khalid, are likely to take part in the sessions after a day’s rest,” the coach said.

Meanwhile, in Lahore, the junior training camp, which started on Feb 14, is also without chief coach Ayaz Mahmood, as according to the former Olympian, his department, PIA, has not released him for the national duty.

The juniors are to participate in Akhbar Al-Youm tournament in Cairo, Egypt, next month.