LAHORE, May 8: Former captain, Shahbaz Ahmad, Wednesday announced retirement from international hockey, a decision he had taken several times in his controversial career spanning over 16 years.

Shahbaz said he had taken the step to give more time to his family and added he had intimated the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) when the training camp began on May 6.

Shahbaz has been invited as one of the probables for the camp set up in Lahore for the Commonwealth Games in Manchester from July 25.

It was not the first time that Shahbaz has called it a day. The former left-in had hanged his boots after Sydney World Cup in 1994, and then after Utrecht World Cup in 1998.

He had staged his third comeback when he played the Rotterdam Champions Trophy in November last year. He was one of the three national coaches before he decided to play the Trophy in the Dutch city where Pakistan could secure fourth place.

The controversial striker has also represented the country at the World Cup in Kuala Lumpur earlier this year. The team finished a poor fifth.

Like the previous occasions, Shahbaz did not specifically say if it was his final decision and he would never make a comeback.

“Whenever I announced my retirement, I considered it as final decision, but the circumstances changed later. I can’t say about future,” he said diplomatically.

Shahbaz dispelled the impression that his decision has any connection with PHF’s attitude and said he had opted to quit because of family commitments.

According to Shahbaz, he would continue to play for his department, PIA

However, the manager, Lt-Col Zafar Ali Khan (retd) and coach Tahir Zaman were not informed about Shahbaz’s retirement by the PHF. Both the officials had stated Shahbaz would join the camp after couple of days when they were asked about his absence on the first day of the camp.