October 18, 2003	Saturday	Sha'aban 21, 1424

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KARACHI, Oct 17: Pakistan soccer once again heads for trouble as the rival faction of the Sindh Football Association (SFA) named on Friday its committee to assist national selectors.

SFA, headed by Haji Mohammad Murad and backed by Sindh Sports Board (SSB), said it had named a committee to deal with the selection of the players for the national team.

Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) has planned to hold open trials in the provinces to select a Under-23 squad for the next year’s SAF Games.

SFA joint secretary Riaz Ahmad said City District Football Association (CDFA) secretary Nazeer Khan would head the committee, while Ismail Baloch, Saleh Mohammad, Mohammad Ali, Hamidullah Baloch, Abdul Rasheed Khan and Najmul Hassan were the members.

SFA has asked the players born on or after July 31, 1981, to report to Nazeer at CDGK Stadium on Saturday. The trials are scheduled to be held from Oct 18 to 22.

Younus Changezi, the manager of gold medal-winning squad of the SAF Games in 1989, heads the PFF selection committee, while Ayub Dar, Qadir Bukhsh and Haji Ilyas are the members.

However, there is huge possibility that the opening day of the trials might see an ugly situation since the SFA headed by Ghulam Abbas Baloch has already announced its “selection committee” which would help the national selectors.

According to Abbas, Raheem Bukhsh would be the chairman of the SFA selection committee with Ashiq Ali, Hassan Baloch, Abdul Manan, Shah Jahan and Asif Zaheer acting as the members.

Abbas, who claims to be the chairman of the PFF competition committee, said in a statement on Thursday the trials would start on Saturday, while for the players from interior Sindh would be held on Oct 21 and 22.

The soccer affairs were in a sorry state during last four years under former president PFF Mian Mohammad Azhar and secretary Agha Liaquat because of formation of rival groups, infighting and politics.

SSB-backed SFA was formed in April 2002 on the basis of new sports policy after the game suffered because of apathy of the SFA affiliated with the PFF.

PFF neither follows the sports policy nor it recognizes the parallel body of Sindh.

The two bodies are at the loggerheads since the creation of the parallel body with both of them claiming to be the legal association.