July 19, 2006	Wednesday	Jumadi-ul-Sani 22, 1427

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LAHORE, July 18: Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) on Tuesday said decision by Sohail Abbas and Waseem Ahmad to come out of retirement was personal and had not been taken in the national interest.

The PHF secretary Brig Musarrat Ullah Khan said both players should have taken the decision before the Champions Trophy.

"I have already said it was not an appropriate time to stage a comeback. If they had wanted to come back into the squad because of national interest, they should have announced the decision earlier this year," he said.

However, he said, the nation and the PHF, in the presence of Sohail and Waseem, expected a better show from the national team in the Champions Trophy in Spain from July 22 for which national team left on Tuesday.

The PHF official admitted Pakistan failed not win a major international event during his six-year long tenure but added the PHF had increased infrastructure and the pool of players.

“There are around 24 Astro turfs in the country, while there is a pool of more than 1000 players," he said.

However, he conceded that when Pakistan had a long victory drought, the improvement in the areas of infrastructure and pool of players was not impressive.

Meanwhile, Australia and England have confirmed they will not participate in the eight-nation hockey tournament proposed by PHF for February next year.

PHF has invited 15 countries but no positive response was received, while Australia and England expressed regret, the PHF official said.

The tournament had been approved by Asian Hockey Federation and International Hockey Federation (FIH). India, South Korea, the Netherlands, Malaysia, Germany have been invited.

Asked the PHF was still without a sponsor for its women wing and junior teams, Musarrat cited inadequate TV coverage as the main reason.

"The sponsors always like to sponsor senior teams because the senior team events are telecast live," he said.

He said next edition of Super Hockey League would be played on single league basis in October in Lahore. The incentives for the players had been increased.

He said six balanced teams would be fielded in the league and admitted that some wrong decisions were taken in forming the teams last year.

He said since Pakistan team had other commitments at international level, PHF had decided to field 'A' team at the 10th South Asian Games in Colombo.

He dispelled the impression that lack of employment had been discouraging the players.