KARACHI, May 6: The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) has invited three “veterans” for the Commonwealth Games training camp which contradicts federation’s claim that aging players would be replaced with youngsters after the World Cup.

Spearhead Kamran Ashraf, a former skipper, and Naveed Alam are two discarded players who have been called-up after remaining out of the hockey scene for quite a long time. The third one is Shahbaz Ahmad.

The camp has been set up in Lahore for the tour to Spain in July which will be followed by the Games in Manchester from July 25.

Kamran, who last represented the country at Prime Minister’s Gold Cup in Dhaka last year, missed the European tour in May-June because of lack of physical fitness.

He was, however, never considered by the PHF despite regaining fitness for reasons better known to the officials.

Naveed, who faced the axe along with five other seniors, including Shahbaz after the 1998 Utrecht World Cup debacle, has been recalled for a national camp after almost four-year layoff.

Shahbaz was one of the three national coaches but somehow he convinced the PHF he could do wonders if given an opportunity to play the Champions Trophy in Rotterdam last November.

Nevertheless, the most surprising factor is the PHF, as usual, did against what it had said earlier about getting rid of the old guards after the World Cup in Kuala Lumpur.

Pakistan finished fifth at Kuala Lumpur showpiece in February-March despite the presence of Shahbaz.

If one goes by what the secretary PHF had said in one of his statements, the young guns should have replaced the older players after the World Cup to raise a formidable side for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.

“Naturally if a player gets older, a younger one takes his place to fill in the gap. But I can’t say who and how many will be replaced for the Athens Olympics.

“Final decision will be taken in consultation with the selectors. The players who have gone down the hill and past their prime might be replaced with new talent from the junior strings to prepare a strong Olympic squad,” the PHF secretary had told Dawn on April 7, 2001.

With clock ticking away and the biggest sporting extravaganza in Athens in two years time, the PHF has no time for experimentation.

Our Correspondent adds from Lahore: Meanwhile, thirty-six probables reported Monday at the national hockey training camp set.

The PHF has invited 48 players for the camp. The team will play four Test matches against Spain from July 16 to 20.

Shahbaz Ahmad, Mohammad Sarwar, Sohail Abbas, Waseem Ahmad and Kashif Jawwad are the prominent players missing from the camp.

Coach Tahir Zaman said Sohail and Kashif were playing league in Malaysia, Waseem and Sarwar were playing league in Germany and Bangladesh. The players playing abroad are on leave till May 13.

However, Shahbaz is in the country and is likely to join the camp in couple of days, the coach said.

The manager, Lt-Col Zafar Ali Khan (retd), said two sessions will be held daily with the morning session starting at 6.30pm, while evening session begins 5.00pm.

Probables: Goalkeepers: Muhammad Qasim, Salman Akbar, Iqbal, Shabbir, Rashed Yaqoob, Mansha.

Full-backs: Sohail Abbas, Tariq Imran, Zeeshan Ashraf, Ali Raza, Aamir Saleem, Asim Chohan, Imran Warsi, Naveed Alam.

Halve-backs: Muhammad Usman, Irfan Yousuf, Ghazanfar Ali, Dilawar, Muhammad Saqlain, Imran Rasool, Yameen Bhatti, Waseem Ahmed, Nadeem Iqbal, Imran, Inam-ur-Rehman, Imran Yousuf.

Forwards: Muhammad Nadeem, Rehan Butt, Syed Sameer Husain, Javed Iqbal, Mudassar Khan, Atif Bashir, Muhammad Sarwar, Aqeel, Shahid Rabbani, Zahid Sheikh, Kashif Jawwad, Shahbaz Ahmed, Khalid Saleem, Muhammad Shabbir, Mudassar, Asif, Muhammad Anees, # Kamran Ashraf, Javed Iqbal, Babar Abdullah, Saleem.