KARACHI, May 24: Pakistan hockey coach Asif Bajwa said on Wednesday after being elevated as manager-cum-coach, he would be fully responsible for the results at Azlan Shah Cup and World Cup later this year.

“I will accept full responsibility of the results of forthcoming assignments. Be it victory or defeat at Azlan Shah and World Cup, I consider myself fully responsible since I have now been given charge as manager and the coach,” former Olympian told Dawn at Hockey Club of Pakistan.

Asif was surprisingly given additional charge of manager on his wish after a poor fourth place at World Cup qualifiers in China earlier this year. It was manager Saeed Khan and assistant coach Rana Mujahid who were shown the door instead.

Little known Rana Zaheer, who replaced Mujahid, was removed last year after the then manager Samiullah tendered resignation, protesting the appointment was made without his consultation.

While Asif believed only coach should be responsible for training and administrative affairs, he said presence of the selection committee was “part of our culture of which we could not get rid.”

“There are certain things for which we can’t do anything. And selection committee is one of them. These things are part of our culture. No matter what you do, you can’t take action against these things,” said Asif.

He was unconvincing when asked since he asked Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) to abolish the position of manager, why can’t he suggest abrogation of selection committee. “I believe it is necessary to have a selection committee for checks and balances. Besides, I also give my input in the selection matters,” he opined.

Asked does that suggest coach was biased or incompetent, he replied: “coach could make a mistake unintentionally.” Asif, however, could not answer when asked why the “selection committee” had been absent from training venue if it should be involved in the selection process.

“What is in order in this country? Nothing. So what’s wrong in having a selection committee,” he replied when asked does not selection committee make things complex.

Khalid Mahmood has recently been named chief selector after Akhtar Rasool was sacked by PHF following court’s ruling that he could not continue as advisor in the Punjab government. Akhtarul Islam, Hassan Sardar, Manzoorul Hassan are the selectors while Brig Musarrat Ullah cop-opted member of the committee.

There is no tradition of having a selection committee in modern hockey and soccer – a fact Asif also admitted.

Asif had more surprises in store when he rated temperamental midfielder MohammadSaqlain, who has been slapped a three-match ban by International Hockey Federation (FIH) “extraordinary and disciplined player.”

“I don’t consider Saqlain’s past. What he did was not my concern. But I can say that he has been behaving well during the training camps since I have taken over as coach,” he said.

Saqlain was banned by FIH for hitting Australian Victory Craig during last year’s Hamburg Masters. The ban was upheld by International Olympic Committee (IOC) after considering all the evidences.

He was booted out for misconduct from 2000 Sydney Olympic squad and then from 2004 Athens Games for hitting teammate Adnan Maqsood. He was also penalised for hitting a South Korean during Azlan Shah Cup last year.

Asif blamed what he said FIH’s bias for Saqlain’s penalty and added FIH had clearly stated to PHF it would not spare the midfielder. “It was done because Craig was an Australian and so is FIH secretary-general Peter Cohen.”

“Saqlain is extraordinary because he is. We have tried but team can’t play without him. It was Shahbaz Ahmad and Qazi Mohib who were even worse cases. They used to sip tea sitting on sidelines with manager while other probables trained,” he said.

While Saqlain has recently stated that team lacked in penalty corner, both Asif and goalkeeping coach Shahid Ali Khan did not agree.

“It is not only Pakistan who are not scoring off penalty corners. We can’t find a single penalty corner striker who is scoring goals now. The era of scoring goals through penalty corner is over after the change of rules,” they claimed.

Asif admitted that PHF had been at mistake sending team to each tournament for the sake of victory.

The coach says Pakistan should play in only selected tournaments to avoid burnout. Although Saleem Khalid was axed by Roelant Oltmans for misguiding the coach about his fitness to evade training, Asif said he had been called up on his recommendations.

Pakistan are training for June 18 to 25 Azlan Shah Cup in Kuala Lumpur. Asif said Zakirullah, suffering from typhoid, had been ruled out, Saleem Khalid was expected to report on Friday, while decision on Mohammad Khalid, who had not informed about his availability, would be taken on Thursday.