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KARACHI: The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) has overlooked Asian Games’ gold medallist captain Zeeshan Ashraf for the camp set up in preparation for the forthcoming European tours and it seems fullback Mohammad Imran will lead the side. The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) on Friday announced 26 probables for the camp to be held at the Naseer Bunda Hockey Stadium in Islamabad from May 30 in preparation for several events including the four-nation UCD Tournament in Dublin, Ireland (June 20 to 25); the four-nation Rabo Tournament in Amsterdam (June 28 to July 2) and a Test series against several European teams.
Zeeshan Ashraf, who had been named in the probables’ list for the recently-concluded Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, decided to skip the camp last month as he wanted to feature in bigger and more important hockey events, such as Champions Trophy, Olympics and World Cup.
But the decision went against his future with the national team as the PHF decided to award central contracts to only those players who are found fit during the camps and are willing to represent their country at all levels.
Pakistan, under the captaincy of Zeeshan’s former deputy, the 31-year-old Imran, returned from Ipoh with the silver medal.
Meanwhile, PHF Secretary Asif Bajwa is of the view that no player can be named the permanent captain of the national team.
“Let Imran first make it to the team and then we’ll see if he should be named captain again or not,” said the former Olympian while speaking to Dawn on Friday.
“Yes, we are satisfied with his performance and conduct. He may even be the next best choice for the position of skipper as Zeeshan has got himself out of the picture.
“Still I cannot say that you will see Imran as a permanent captain since we believe that one has to perform to the best of his abilities at all times,” he added.
Probables: Mohammad Imran, Shakeel Abbasi, Syed Kashif Shah, Sohail Abbas, Mohammad Rizwan Junior, Waseem Ahmed, Rashid Mahmood, Fareed Ahmed, Mohammad Tousiq, Mohammad Waqas, Rehan Butt, Mohammad Rizwan Senior, Mohammad Zubair, Mohammad Imran Jr, Abdul Haseem Khan, Imran Shah, Waqas Akbar, Mohammad Umar Bhutta, Salman Akbar, Mohammad Irfan, Shafqat Rasool, Akhtar Ali, Kashif Javaid, Ali Shan, Faisal Qadir and Mohammad Irfan Jr.
