KARACHI, Oct 8: The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) secretary Khalid Mahmood has snubbed team manager Islahuddin Siddiqui on blaming poor umpiring for the Asia Cup loss besides expressing his reservations over the selection of various teams.

The Olympian said the team played badly at the 11-nation tournament in Chennai last month and the umpiring should not be blamed for defeat.

“There were some controversial umpiring decisions in the final and may be in other matches, but it doesn’t mean that Pakistan lost just because of that factor. The team played badly and we lost, umpiring had nothing to do with that. Overall, it was a disappointing performance,” Khalid told Dawn.

In contrasting views to that of the PHF secretary, Islah has constantly harped about the “poor umpiring” in Asia Cup where Pakistan finished a poor sixth. They lost to minnows Japan and China and barely managed a draw with Malaysia.

To add salt to the wounds, a PHF spokesman — soon after the event — created an embarrassing situation for the federation when he criticised the Indian organisers of “poor umpiring” before getting snubbed by the Indian Hockey Federation which described his claims as a “bundle of lies”.

Islah, meanwhile, had also claimed that South Korea walked out during a match in the Asia Cup because of some questionable decisions by the referees.

But even if one considers his claims to be true, the question still remains that how the Koreans managed to reach the final in the first place?

It is not the first time that Islah has raised such a hue and cry over umpiring. The manager was also critical of the decisions at the Azlan Shah Cup in Malaysia as well as in the four-nation tourney in Beijing earlier this year.

Khalid, meanwhile, flatly refused to comment on several mind-boggling selections in the past few months.

“I do have some reservations on selection but I won’t comment. I have reservations about a player (Mohammad) Arshad and some other selection issues, but I will not comment on this one and you can ask Islah why this player (Arshad) was in the squad for Asia Cup,” said the secretary.

To recall a few facts here, Islah was entrusted with the task by PHF chief Zafarullah Jamali to select the squad for the Asia Cup. While he retained much of the squad, he axed Majid Khan and recalled the injury-plagued Imran Warsi to the side.

Surprisingly, Warsi is believed to be in India for treatment of his shoulder injury. The full-back was included in the squad after he gave assurances about his fitness.

Among other selection mishaps, promising forward Mohammad Zubair was also not considered for Asia Cup by Islah who said he lacked serious approach towards training. However, the same player has now been called up for the Champions Trophy camp and will also be playing the junior six-nation event in Singapore later this month.

Mohammad Atiq, a junior squad full-back, has also been called up for the senior camp despite reports of indiscipline. Little-known Mohammad Amin has also been invited although he was not even named in the Police squad for the National Championship earlier this year.

While a pack of underachievers has been invited for the senior camp, up-and-coming Asim Khan, Rashid Imran, and Owais Khan have not even considered good enough to be included in the probables list.

Also, Zeeshan Ashraf, a Pakistan full-back, and forward Adnan Zakir are among those who didn’t receive a call-up while unknown players such as Shahid Waseem, Kamran, Sameer, Shahid, Adeel, Azhar Iqbal and Afzal have manged to make the grade.