KARACHI, April 10: Former Pakistan junior hockey team coach Ayaz Mahmood on Saturday said induction of over-age players in the Junior Asia Cup squad would serve personal interest of the officials not the sport.
"Some five over-age players have been included in the Asia Cup squad only to achieve victory or to qualify for the Junior World Cup. But in that process the game will be the ultimate loser," the former coach said.
His comments came after Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF), in consultation with selection committee and team management, included almost half a dozen over-age players for the April 20 to 29 Cup to be staged in Karachi.
Ayaz, who stepped down on Feb 26, 2003, after a 10-month stint as junior team coach before his assistant Asif Bajwa took over, said Shakeel Abbasi, Imran Warsi, Adnan Zakir, Imran Khan and Mohammad Iqbal, were over-age.
The former coach said Shakeel was sent to the senior training camp when he first came to junior camp some one and half years ago as the forward was over-age.
"When I was the coach and Col Abdur Rauf the manager, Shakeel was sent straight to senior camp as we didn't want to induct a 25 or a 26-year-old in the junior team.
"As for Imran Warsi, Adnan Zakir, and Imran Khan, they were not considered for a tournament in Cairo in September 2002 because of being over-age," said the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic gold medallist.
The former Olympian said he always resisted against having over-age players in the team during his tenure, although he could have easily blooded older players to achieve better results.
"Pakistan may win the Junior Asia Cup by fielding over-age players, but that will certainly damage the game. The team officials, selectors and PHF should have taken into consideration the adverse effects of having over-age players before finalizing the squad.
"One should set sight on victory, but not at the cost of sidelined youthful players who in fact are the future of hockey," he suggested.
Ayaz said his policy of having younger players in the squad could not continue as the situation started to change soon after he quit. He advised the current team manager Jahangir Butt and coach Asif to look for a long-term plan and not instant glories.
"I faced criticism after we lost badly initially as we had promising but inexperienced youngsters. But that needs guts. Nobody was ready to take rookie forward Yasir (Islam) in the squad before we inducted him. Now the talented youth is the backbone of the current junior squad and has a bright future with the senior team," he said.
