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| June 29, 2006 | Thursday | Jumadi-ul-Sani 2, 1427 |
PHF seeks Sohail’s unconditional availability
ISLAMABAD, Jun 28: Penalty corner specialist Sohail Abbas can be recalled to the Pakistan hockey fold should he give up his stance of conditional availability for the national team.
This was stated by secretary of Pakistan Hockey Federation, Brig. (r) Musarratullah Khan, when his attention was drawn to the statement of former captain Hanif Khan.
Hanif, also a former national coach, had advised PHF to bring back three players in the aftermath of Pakistan team's fifth place finishing in the Azlan Shah Cup Hockey Tournament at Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) last week.
Besides Sohail, Hanif had also pleaded for the recall of halfback Wasim Ahmed and spearhead Kashif Jawwad.
“Sohail Abbas insists on conditional availability which means that he does not want to be involved in the build-up process,” Musarrat said.
“The build-up process requires players to take part in training camps and tournaments,” he said. “Sohail Abbas just wants to come and play straightaway in the major tournaments like Champions Trophy and World Cup.”
“We have written to his department that if Sohail participates in the build-up process, he will be welcomed back. Otherwise, it will not be good for the team,” the PHF secretary said.
He said halfback Waseem Ahmed's case was also no different from that of Sohail Abbas. As for centre forward Kashif Jawwad, Musarrat said Shakeel Abbasi was giving outstanding performance in that position. Hence there is no place for Kashif.
Musarrat ruled out changes in the national team management after the Azlan Shah disappointment as it would put the new management under pressure before such tournaments as next month's Champions Trophy at Terassa (Spain) and the World Cup at Munich (Germany) in September this year.
To another question, he said the national training camp for the Champions Trophy would commence at newly-laid astro-turf of Abbottabad, tentatively on July 3 and will be attended by 25-odd players.
He said Pakistan “A” team camp would be held at Karachi, probably from July 10, before this team's participation in the 10th South Asian Games at Colombo (Sri Lanka) in August this year.
He confirmed that Senate Standing Committee of Sports has invited PHF Patron-in-Chief, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, to a meeting with PHF officials at Parliament House on July 3 to take stock of the performance of the national sport of hockey.—APP
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