KARACHI, Feb 26: Although the selection committee is nowhere to be seen at national junior hockey training camp, it is scheduled to "shortlist" the probables on Friday for the series against The Netherlands and Malaysia next month.
The camp has been established at Hockey Club of Pakistan from Feb 21, but apart from Hassan Sardar who came for 15 minutes on the opening day and reappeared on Wednesday after three days absence, it is yet to see the other members of the selection committee.
Chief selector Akhtar Rasool, selectors Saleem Nazim, Saeed Khan, and even secretary of the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) Brig Musarrat Ullah Khan, the co-opted member of the selection committee, never came to the venue.
However, all are expected on Friday to visit the camp to shortlist the trainees after trial for the final approval of the president of the PHF. On the contrary, senior team coach Roelant Oltmans is dealing the selection matters with an iron hand. According to Oltmans, team for Madrid's Olympic qualifiers next month, was selected only by him.
Interestingly, according to an official PHF press release, manager Jahangir, coach Asif Bajwa and his three assistants who are imparting training to the players, are not the part of the selection committee.
However, Jahangir argued he would be a part of the selection committee when the probables would be shortlisted on Friday. He said he would suggest to shortlist some 22 players out of 35 available.
The two series will also serve as build-up to April's Junior Asia Cup which is also the qualifying round for the Junior World Cup to be hosted by The Netherlands next year.
