September 29, 2007	Saturday	Ramazan 16, 1428

KARACHI, Sept 28: Pakistan will start the “selection process” of junior hockey squad for the forthcoming six-nation tournament with two-day trials which commence here on Saturday with question mark still hanging on the age and discipline of some players.

Pakistan camp probables have been training since Sept 20 at the Hockey Club of Pakistan for the under-19 tournament to be played from Oct 17 to 21 in Singapore. Pakistan have India and Hong Kong in their pool, while Australia Malaysia and Singapore are placed in the other.

However, it seems that team management is looking for a victory at all cost as some senior team players or those who have attended senior camps have also been called up for the junior camp.

Mohammad Zubair, who has been sidelined by senior team manager Islahuddin Siddiqui for quite a long time now, is among the list of probables while undisciplined and over-aged Mohammad Atiq has also attended Asia Cup camp for the seniors recently.

Apart from the age factor, Atiq was removed from captaincy after reports of indiscipline in the past and also during the camp for Kenya and Egypt tours in March under manager Jahangir Butt.

Jahangir, in an earlier statement, had admitted that though there might be some over-age players in the camp, they can’t be excluded on that basis since they possess official documents from Nadra.

The explanation by the Olympian is, however, strange since he himself excluded some players during scrutiny at the recently concluded National Junior Championship in Faisalabad although the players had official age verification documents with them.

However, the manager in his earlier statement has said that over-age players could be axed gradually from the squad on the basis of their poor performance. Apart from Atiq, at least three other players – Shafqat Rasool, Amir Shahzad, and Atif Yaqoob — are also over-aged.