KARACHI, Feb 8: Pakistan hockey captain Mohammad Sarwar was axed on Saturday while most of the current national team players were retained in a list of 37 probables for the national training camp.

The striker has been out of form for quite a long time and did not appear in the two-day trials that concluded on Saturday at UBL Sports Complex.

The hopefuls were picked by chief selector Akhtar Rasool, members of the selection committee, Hassan Sardar, Saleem Nazim, Col Shahid Jaffery who watched the trials.

However, as expected, selectors Saeed Khan and Shahnaz Sheikh were absent at the trials. According to Shahnaz, since he was not released by his department (PIA), he failed to join his colleagues.

The training camp for next month’s Azlan Shah Cup is scheduled to commence from Feb 14 here at Pakistan Steel Mills, while the final trials to select the squad are expected later this month.

Surprisingly, while Sarwar failed to impress the selectors, midfielder Ghazanfar Ali, who neither represented his side, PTCL, at the national championship nor he appeared in the trials, was named among the probables.

Sarwar’s omission is understandable, but Ghazanfar’s inclusion is completely beyond one’s comprehension since the latter has been included in the camp trainees despite he did not play the final round of the national championship.

Ghazanfar is in England at present on a private visit.

It was, however, amazing why Mohammad Saqlain, who had been involved in number of incidents of indiscipline, was included in 37-man list, despite a below-par performance during the national championship.

The Pakistan centre-half did nothing of note during last year’s major events — Commonwealth Games, Champions Trophy and the Asian Games — to merit inclusion.

However, some new faces have also been included apart from the veterans like Ahmad Alam, Mohammad Nadeem, Tariq Imran, who were no more impressive than relatively inexperienced players during the national championship.

Meanwhile, the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) has decided to abolish Pakistan Whites, therefore, there will be only three outfits seniors, Under-19 and Under-16.

Probables:

Goalkeepers: Ahmad Alam (PIA), Mohammad Qasim (Wapda), Salman Akbar (PTCL), Nasir Ahmed (Karachi), Amanullah (Wapda)

Full-backs: Sohail Abbas (Wapda), Ali Raza (PIA), Tariq Imran (PTCL), Zeeshan Ashraf (NBP) Asim Chohan (PTCL), Saleem Amir (PIA)

Half-backs: Mohammad Saqlain (ABL), Waseem Ahmad (Wapda), Ghazanfar Ali (PTCL), Dilawar Hussain (Army), Imran Rasool (PTCL), Adnan Maqsood (NBP), Rahat Rehman (Rawalpindi), Atif Mushtaq (Customs), Nadeem Iqbal (PTCL), Shahid Waseem (Police), Rana Asif (Wapda)

Forwards: Mohammad Nadeem (NBP), Kashif Jawwad (HBL), Rehan Butt (Wapda), Mudassir Ali Khan (Wapda), Shakeel Abbasi (PTCL), Aqeel (PTCL), Javed Iqbal (NBP), Amir Sahi (Faisalabad), Mukhtar Ahmad (Bahawalpur), Shafiq-ul-Islam (POF), Rizwan Butt (Lahore), Saleem Khalid (PTCL), Zahid Afzal (ABL), Shabbir Hussain (Wapda) and Jameel (Pakistan Navy).