KARACHI, July 4: While the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) complains of dearth of talent, it continues to neglect youngsters as merely one selector visited the training camp here as two-day trials start on Saturday.

More than 20 days have passed when the camp was set up for this month’s tour of Europe which includes four-nation tournament in Spain and eight-nation contest in Poland.

But only former Olympian Hassan Sardar visited the camp which was not on daily basis. The selection committee chairman Akhtar Rasool, members Saeed Khan and Saleem Nazim, however, did not bother to watch the youngsters during the training.

The secretary of the PHF, Brig Musarrat Ullah Khan, is a co- opted member of the selection was also absent from the camp. He would be among the selectors who approve the squad on Sunday.

Although, neither Akhtar and the selectors nor the secretary deemed it necessary to come to the city to observe the youth, full selection committee and the PHF secretary are scheduled to watch the trials before finalizing the squad.

Interestingly, the selection committee, on the suggestion of Hassan, also serves as what the PHF calls “think tank” which should go to the schools to explore talent.

PHF has also created yet another controversy by appointing former international Jan Mohammad the coach for the camp, although Asif Bajwa has been working in the same capacity.

The junior training camp has become a joke after the appointment of two coaches at a time. Either Jan Mohammad should have been assigned to assist Asif or he should have been Jan Mohammad’s deputy.

How serious are the officials in grooming the juniors could be judged by the fact that the camp was without the manager Col Abdur Rauf and Asif for some three or four days after it resumed following a break. Jan Mohammad supervised the camp in the absence of the two officials.