July 13, 2007	Friday	Jamadi-us-Sani 27, 1428

KARACHI, July 12: With an objective to unearth talent at grassroots level, the Karachi Hockey Association (KHA) launches an under-17 coaching camp from Monday, surprisingly under undisciplined Olympian Farhat Khan as coach who has a history of violent behaviour.

The former player, who will be heading a team of six coaches, has been a troublemaker since his heyday which makes him a questionable choice for the assignment.

Not only Farhat has a history of misconduct, he has also been involved in revolts against camp commandant and coaches during his playing days. He was once booted out of national training camp after he vanished without any intimation despite repeated warnings by the camp officials.

He had also been involved in a misconduct incident with secretary of Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) Khalid Mahmood who was then his camp commandant. He was admonished and asked by the then coach Hanif Khan to behave.

Notorious for his unruly behaviour, both on and off the pitch, the temperamental Farhat have not shown any signs of mending his ways despite catching up in age. Just a couple of years ago, he used profanity against a rival team players and umpires while representing his department Pakistan Customs at a national level tournament.

The Customs team officials then decided against fielding him and he sat on the bench for the remaining matches.

Interestingly, in January he was also one of the five coaches of under-18 ‘Talent Hunt Scheme’ training camp for Sindh.

According to KHA secretary Gulfaraz Ahmad, some 30 to 35 schoolchildren are expected to be the part of training camp for which trials will be held on Sunday at the UBL Sports Complex.

The KHA official says that these youngsters will be coached with an intention to provide talent to district associations and their affiliated clubs.

However, the question remains how these young and raw schoolchildren could be inspired and transformed into future starts when the individual at the helm of their training lacks temperament and is not a role model for teenagers.

The KHA’s intention may not be negative, but appointing a controversial personality for such an important assignment is certainly debatable.

Big names including Olympians and former stars were also missing from the selection committee list. Since KHA believes the activity is a programme to hunt the talent at grassroots level, it would have been ideal to involve some of the former stalwarts in the selection process.

As the activity will be at grassroots level, it will also be imperative to ensure that only under-17 players are selected. Wrist X-ray test to determine age of players should be carried out since depending merely on “documentary evidence” will be a futile exercise.

Gulfaraz said that camp, which would end on July 31, might be extended and would be shifted to Hockey Club of Pakistan (HCP) once the ongoing ‘Talent Grooming’ ends at that venue.

“The camp which is being sponsored by NBP is a part of countrywide campaign in 20 districts to explore and teach the basics of hockey to newcomers. We are likely to organize a 15-day second leg of the camp at HCP from Aug 1,” added the KHA secretary.