KARACHI, Aug 25: Confusion prevailed at the national hockey camp on Saturday as Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) secretary Khalid Mahmood and manager-cum-chief coach Islahuddin Siddiqui contradicted each other on the selection system of the national squad.

Khalid claimed that selection for the Asia Cup was made by team management, chief selector Khawaja Zakauddin and himself while Islah categorically said it was only the team management which was involved in the changes within the squad.

“The selection was done by the team management, myself and the chief selector,” Khalid told Dawn at the Hockey Club of Pakistan but was far from convincing when asked how chairman of the selection committee could be involved in the process when he never visited the camp set up since Aug 20.

The Olympian said that since Zakauddin had been involved in the selection process since his appointment in May, he was consulted before making any changes.

“Zaka is not in Karachi today and he didn’t see the camp trainees in Karachi. But he is the chief selector and knew Imran Warsi’s potential. So we took his opinion also before making changes in the team,” said Khalid.

The PHF official was, however, at a loss of words when asked why other members of the selection committee were not consulted on the final squad.

“We had announced a squad both for Beijing tournament and Asia Cup in Islamabad. The PHF chief (Zafarullah Jamali) had made it clear that the team management would be responsible for making changes in the squad if they deem it necessary. That’s why selectors were not involved in the process today.”

Khalid, however, denied that this arrangement was made as two of the selectors — Abdul Rashid and Samiullah — had been keeping a distance from the selection duty for quite some time due to differences over the running of affairs in the PHF.

To another query regarding making the current selection system involving only coaches a permanent one, the PHF secretary said: “We have to keep some checks and balances on the team management. What will we do if there are differences between the coach and the manager?

“We have to have a selection committee. But I agree that the Europeans and others do have a system in which only coaches select teams. But we can’t adopt that system.”

Khalid’s statement was, however, contradicted by Islahuddin.

“There is no doubt that only I and Manzoor selected the team. I fully endorse the view that coaches should be empowered for selection. When we can do it for Asia Cup then we can also do it for other events also,” Islah told Dawn.