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| September 27, 2006 | Wednesday | Ramazan 3, 1427 |
Shahnaz retained for Asiad, Samiullah replaces Hassan
LAHORE, Sept 26: The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) on Tuesday decided to retain former Olympian Shahnaz Sheikh as national team coach till December’s Asian Games and inducted Olympian Samiullah Khan as member national selection committee in place of Hassan Sardar who resigned the post last week.
PHF secretary Akhtarul Islam, addressing the journalists after President Jamali’s meeting with the Pakistan team and chief selector Khalid Mahmood, said Shahnaz will continue as coach until the Asian Games.
"We have sought Shahnaz’s availability till December and will request PIA to release him from his official duties till then,” said Akhtar.
The Asian Games are being held in Doha, Qatar from Dec 1 to 15. Former Olympian Shahnaz was appointed coach-cum-manager just six weeks before the World Cup in Germany where the Asian giants ended up with a poor sixth position.
The federation’s secretary said the decision to retain Shahnaz as coach was mainly taken to maintain continuity as the former Olympian could not get ample time to work on the team for the World Cup.
Akhtar also announced on the occasion the appointment of former Olympian Samiullah in place of Hassan Sardar who had quit the job last week due to personal reasons.
"I was not aware about Hassan’s resignation and I rang him up today to confirm the same before recommending Samiullah as selector," he said.
Avoiding questions regarding captain Mohammad Saqlain’s future as Pakistan captain, the secretary said at it was a bit premature to comment on the issue as various players including Saqlain, Rehan Butt, Sohail Abbas and Waseem Ahmed would not be available for the training camp due to their commitments with the hockey leagues abroad.
However, he said the PHF had decided that only those players who would attend the camp as well as trials would be eligible to get a place in the team and the decision on captaincy will also be taken then.
The first phase of the training camp for the Asian Games will be held at Islamabad from Oct 10-20 while the second phase will be held in Karachi from Nov 1.
The secretary added that right-winger Mudassar Ali Khan could be sent to England for his knee treatment and the PHF had contacted the Pakistan Sports Trust to seek financial assistance in this regard.
The PHF also abolished 10-year ban imposed on former secretary Punjab Hockey Association (PHA) Saleem Nazim, a former Olympian.
About the finalisation of nominees to the International Hockey Federation (FIH) for different committees, Akhtar said no decision had been taken in this regard.
"It would take one week more to finalise the names of nominees," he said.
The sources, however, told Dawn, the PHF had decided not to put any candidate for the FIH executive board as it failed to get support of the required voters as well as any support from the FIH for its candidate.
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