November 10, 2007	Saturday	Shawwal 28, 1428

KARACHI, Nov 9: The national hockey selectors will meet on Saturday when the two-day trials to finalize the Champions Trophy squad start with a big question mark hanging over physical fitness of injured manager-cum-chief coach Islahuddin Siddiqui.

The Olympian fractured a toe in his right foot on Thursday when he received a hit while supervising an evening session at the Hockey Club of Pakistan. His foot was plastered after a fracture was revealed.

The present situation means Islah will not be able to actively and practically supervise the training sessions because this sort of injury takes at least two to three weeks to heal.

Since the elite tournament, which has been expanded to eight teams, will be hosted by Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur from Nov 29 to Dec 9, Islah’s injury means he could only be fit just before the team departs, sometime in the third or fourth week of this month.

“Usually a fractured toe takes at least two to three weeks to fully heal. Once recovered, there will be no problem and person can move freely,” said Dr Pervez Rizvi, the secretary of Sports Medicine Association of Pakistan.

As Islah has chosen to carry on and supervise the training sessions despite the injury, a failure in Kuala Lumpur will not absolve him from the poor performance.

However, a visit to the camp venue on Friday showed the manager was absent from the camp and was believed to have gone home.

While the other team officials, such as the coaches and the physiotherapist, were present, the manager’s presence at the camp was more important as the official is responsible for both on and off the field activities and discipline of the probables.

It is, however, a strange “coincidence” that Islah always gets injured whenever he takes the charge as the team manager. The former Pakistan captain had “injured” his neck in Sydney when he was managing the Olympic squad which finished fourth at the 2000 Games.

Islah once again injured his hand earlier this year when he slipped after an evening training session for the Azlan Shah Cup where Pakistan finished at rock bottom, securing a worst-ever sixth place.

Interestingly, the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) secretary Khalid Mahmood, as usual, parried the questions regarding Islah’s injury. The official also refused to talk on other issues as well such as injuries to the camp trainees.

“I don’t want to discuss his (Islah’s) injury. Things like that happen,” said Khalid when asked why the manager always gets injured during camps.

While Islah is nursing an injury, skipper Rehan Butt claimed he had recovered from a quadriceps strain.

According to team physiotherapist, Faizur Rahman, full-back Zeeshan Ashraf had also recovered from a similar injury, while Mohammad Amin was now fit after suffering from a bout of fever.

“Amin has been cleared and doesn’t have dengue fever, while Ghazanfar (Ali) is also training after recovering from a hamstring injury,” said the physiotherapist.

However, it is strange how Ghazanfar recovered so quickly from hamstring injury. Surprisingly, goalkeeper Nasir Ahmad, who was sent home by Islah on the first day of camp on Oct 21 since he was suffering from typhoid and dengue fever, has been again included in the camp.

It is ironic that the goalkeeper, who rejoined the camp on Nov 1, will be considered for selection, although he has attended the camp just for a few days. Islah was not available for comments neither at the camp nor at his home.

Meanwhile, while Anjum Saeed has joined the camp as one of the four coaches, Mumtaz Haider has not joined. The reason for his absence could not be known as Khalid had refused to discuss any issue.