LAHORE, April 12: Left-winger Saleem Khalid has been axed while defender Tariq Imran, goalkeeper Mohammad Qasim and Ijaz Rasool have been selected by the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF)
to a squad of 20 probables who will attend a special national training camp to be held in the Hague, Holland, from April 16.
The camp is part of national team's preparations for the Olympics to be held in Greece in August. Saleem was ousted on the recommendation of the Dutch coach Roelant Oltmans as he was not satisfied with the attitude of the player during the Olympic qualifying round which was held in Spain last month.
Saleem had declared himself unfit for the third place match against India in the qualifying round, after reporting pain in his foot. But after the match, he was found playing a football match with local boys.
Derek Verder, the dutch physiotherapist of the Pakistan team, asked his video analyst Roberto Tolentino, to make Saleem's footage while playing the soccer match and recommended to the head coach Oltmans for further action. Oltmans recommended PHF not to include Saleem.
Tariq, who left the training camp for the last Champions Trophy at the National Hockey Stadium half way after knowing that he was not in the team, had been recalled for the Holland camp.
It may be mentioned that Tariq had later appeared before the PHF secretary Brig Mussaratullah Khan to explain his position as the then manager Rashid Junior was not happy with the conduct of the player and had asked for a disciplinary action.
But the PHF had included Tariq in the stand-byes for the Champions Trophy, despite the opposition of the manager. Rashid Junior later quit as manager for which Tariq's case was also a reason.
Qasim who failed to get nod of coach Oltmans for the qualifying round was included in the list. Ijaz has been preferring his hockey activities in United Kingdom, ignoring calls for the national training camp in the past because he was not sure for his place in the team.
Meanwhile, the PHF's decision to hold the short training camp of 12 days in the Hague is questionable. According to the schedule, after the camp at Hague, the probables will return to Pakistan on April 28. After a month's rest, the boys will again gather for a training camp from May 29, before embarking on the European tour in mid June.
Squad: Ahmad Alam, Mohammad Qasim, Salman Akbar, Tariq Imran, Ali Raza,Sohail Abbas, Zeeshan Ashraf, Mohammad Nadeem (captain), Ghazanfar Ali, Ijaz Rasool, Mohammad Saqlain, Dilawar Hussain, Wasim Ahmad, Adnan Maqsood, Rehan Butt, Mudassar Ali Khan, Kashif Jawad, Shabbir Hussain, Shakeel Abbasi, Mohammad Sarwar.
