June 15, 2003	Sunday	Rabi-us-Sani 14, 1424

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KARACHI, June 14: Pakistan hockey manager Shahnaz Sheikh’s on Saturday backed and supported those players who failed in Australia but refrained from speaking about others.

“Ahmad (Alam) is better than Salman (Akbar),” Shahnaz told Dawn when asked how he would compare goalkeeper Ahmad with young reserve custodian Salman Akbar.

According to Shahnaz, Ahmad conceded 17 of the 25 goals while Salman eight during the two three-nation competitions in Australia involving Australia, India and Australia `A’.

However, Shahnaz had no reasonable answer to support his contention how a goalkeeper who conceded 17 goals could be better than a junior against whom only eight goals had been scored.

Asked how would he rate centre-half Mohammad Saqlain and Adnan Maqsood, he took no time in voting in favour of Saqlain saying he was an attacking player while Adnan played defensive.

While Saqlain is allegedly known for indiscipline, he did nothing extraordinary during the tour.

Shahnaz had a different criterion and no logical reply when asked would he consider Kashif Jawwad a better centre-forward skill-wise or the newcomer Shakeel Abbasi.

“Kashif is a mature and experienced player and Shakeel is a young and new player. If I praise Kashif it might demoralize Shakeel who is a youngster,” Shahnaz said while parrying the question.

The former Olympian again could not reply when asked if that was the case then why did he vote in favour of Ahmad and Saqlain.

According to Shahnaz, Kashif did not perform well during the tour Down Under and scored just one goal, while Shakeel netted thrice.

“Kashif, who performed well at Azlan Shah Cup earlier this year, but this time he scored only once, while Shakeel scored thrice,” the manager said.

Asked why he considered Ahmad a better custodian than Salman despite the fact that he conceded huge number of goals as compared to Salman, Shahnaz’s reply defied logic.

“Ahmad was impressive during the Azlan Shah Cup,” Shahnaz said but was speechless when asked why he did not rate Kashif a better spearhead than Shakeel, although he was brilliant too at Azlan Shah Cup.

Although Shahnaz claimed Kashif was given adequate chance to prove himself during the Australian tour, it has been learnt that the striker was fielded in patches.

Pakistan Hockey Federation secretary, Brig Musarrat Ullah Khan claims the selection committee’s presence is vital as coach or a single person could not be given sweeping powers in this country.

It is, however, interesting but certainly does not seem a coincidence that Pakistan squad that toured Australia had no fewer than eight players belonging to same department which is being coached by Shahnaz.