KARACHI: Hockey coach Hanif Khan said on Tuesday that adopting the old selection system would be a hasty step, but at the same time he expressed his willingness to accept the old system of selection.

“Personally, I have no objections if the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) decides to appoint a selection committee,” Hanif maintained.

“I was deeply disappointed with poor showing of the youngsters in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup,” he further said.

Pakistan finished last in the event won by Australia when the green shirts beat hosts Malaysia 3-2.

The PHF decided to abolish the selection committee headed by Hanif a few months ago, empowering chief coach Akhtar Rasool and his deputy to select the squad for international events in a bid to improve performance of the team.

However, there has been huge criticism of Pakistan’s poor showing in the Azlan Shah Cup due to which the PHF may rethink the new selection process.

“The performance of youngsters [in the Azlan Shah Cup] was below par which really surprised and disappointed us,” Hanif remarked. “We rested some seniors and picked youngsters to give them international exposure, but they were unable to produce any performance worth mentioning.”

The former Olympian said that the youngsters’ poor performance was not a good omen for the future of hockey while admitting that Pakistan team have weak back-up line which is more worrisome.

However, Hanif claimed that they would work on various options to overcome the problems and make Pakistan team better.—APP