ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF), in a bid to resurrect the fortunes of the national team following its poor show in the World Hockey League in London last month, named a fresh selection committee and set of coaches here on Thursday.

PHF president retired Brig Mohammad Khalid Khokhar announced the revamped committee which will commence work with immediate effect. Olympian Hassan Sardar will head the committee and comprises members Ayaz Mahmood and Syed Musaddiq Hussain. They have replaced the previous four-member selection committee comprising Rasheed Junior, Waseem Feroz, Farhat Hussain Khan and Qasim Khan.

The PHF also removed head coach Khawaja Junaid from his position, replacing him with Farhat Hassan Khan, while two other coaches Malik Mohammad Shafqat and Muhammad Sarwar have also been appointed to assist the head coach.

PHF makes changes after poor show at World League

During the hockey World League, Pakistan faced heavy defeats at the hands of India, Holland, Argen­tina and the lowly-ranked Canada, conceding as many as 28 goals while scoring just nine.

Serious questions were raised over the performance of the team as well as the team management as no aspect of the game was worth mentioning for Pakistan in the mega event.

The Green-shirts only managed to defeat lowly-ranked sides like Scotland and China and finished a poor seventh.

“Our performance in World League was very poor, though we did manage to achieve the target of qualifying for the World Cup. That’s why these changes were imperative,” PHF president Khalid Khohkar told Dawn.

He said that after making changes in the selection committee the federation is expecting to see the team among top four in the upcoming Asian Championship.

“We have replaced the entire selection committee and the coaches and are now hoping to bring better results,” he added. Secretary of the PHF Shahbaz Ahmed Senior said: “Hassan Sardar is a big name in the world of hockey while new head coach Farhat is a highly skilled player. Hopefully, their induction will boost the national game.”

When asked about the possible changes in the team, Shahbaz said that some changes are surely expected, but he could not share the details at this stage. Sources close to the PHF, however, said lot of changes are expected to be made in the national team in the next phase while captain Haseem is also likely to be replaced.

Meanwhile, the PHF has invited 10 goalkeepers for a two-week-long training camp starting at the Abdul Sattar Edhi Hockey Stadium in Karachi from Saturday.

Former Olympian goalkeeper Nasir Ahmad of PIA will impart training. The goalkeepers invited for the training include Mazhar Abbas (NBP), Amjad Ali (Sui Southern Gas Company), Waleed Akhtar (Bannu), Yasir (KP), Hafiz Umair Ali (SNGPL), Ali Raza (NBP), Muneeb-ur-Rehman (SSGC), Roman Khan (KP), Adil Rao (Punjab) and Ali Haider (PIA).

Published in Dawn, July 21st, 2017