KARACHI, Feb 24: After relying on ageing veterans for years, Pakistan on Monday finally injected some fresh blood in their squad for next month’s Azlan Shah Cup which the hockey federation called a mixture of experience and youth.

Three new faces — Adnan Maqsood, Mohammad Aqeel and Shakeel Abbasi — will make their international debut at the March 22 to 31 tournament to be participated by title-holders Germany, New Zealand, South Korea, Malaysia and India.

To give themselves a good warm-up and to acclimatise, the green shirts will play three-Test series against Malaysia ahead of the contest. The matches will be played on March 17, 18 and 20.

The squad was announced by chief selector Akhtar Rasool after three sessions and a marathon two-hour-long meeting. The selectors Hassan Sardar and Saleem Nazim watched the trials, while Saeed Khan was absent as usual.

However, how knowledgeable the national hockey selection committee is could be judged by the fact that chief selector, Akhtar Rasool, named Imran Rasool as a debutante.

The fact is Imran has represented the country at the Rotterdam Champions Trophy in 2001. It was the last tournament the midfielder played and was later axed for the six-nation tournament in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in 2002.

The three new players will fill void after omission of Mohammad Sarwar and absentee Ghazanfar Ali. Sarwar, the former captain, was not considered for selection on the basis of his performance, Akhtar said.

“Apart from his unimpressive performance, Sarwar had already told us he would not be available for the tournament (Azlan Shah Cup),” the chief selector said.

Akhtar sprang a surprise when he said goalkeeper Salman Akbar, who was among 37 senior camp probables, would go to Egypt for Akhbar Al-Youm tournament along with the junior squad as their number one custodian.

Besides Imran, Ali Raza also staged a comeback, replacing full-back Zeeshan Ashraf. Saleem Khalid, a member of the Busan Asian Games squad, has also been omitted.

Ali last played in 2002 World Cup at Kuala Lumpur, while the event in Busan was Saleem’s last tournament.

Mohammad Nadeem has been elevated as captain, while Waseem Ahmad will be his deputy.

Although the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) has eventually decided to have some fresh talent in the squad, veterans like Ahmad Alam, Nadeem, Mohammad Saqlain, and Tariq Imran, were retained.

There has been harsh criticism from different quarters against having ageing players in the squad since the team failed to deliver despite their presence last year.

Pakistan could not secure a single victory in the four major events in 2002 — World Cup, Commonwealth Games, Champions Trophy, and Asian Games.

However, the president of the PHF, Gen Muhammad Aziz Khan, said the squad was exclusively for the Azlan Shah Cup and there would be fresh trials for the forthcoming events.

Pakistan are to take part in two four-nation events in Australia, one in Germany in May-June and then face the toughest challenge in Amstelveen, the Netherlands, where they battle for the prestigious title — the Champions Trophy in August.

Asked whether the PHF would reconsider discarded players including Sarwar, Gen Aziz replied in affirmative, saying “all the players will be considered, but only on the basis of their performance.”

“Our focus is on the 2004 Olympics in Athens. We are going through evolution and building process. We have some major events before the Games for which there may be some changes. Whoever performs will be considered again,” the general said.

The hockey chief said action against Ghazanfar would be taken for breaching the code of conduct but only after investigating the reason behind his absence from the camp.

“PHF will contact Ghazanfar’s department (PTCL) and if it is proved that he has misinformed us, then a disciplinary action will be taken against him,” he said.

Ghazanfar, who was the part of Busan Asian Games squad, has informed team manager, Col Shahid Jaffery, that he is suffering from pneumonia and is in England. However, there are conflicting reports according to which he is playing in the league in England.

Gen Aziz dubbed the Azlan Shah Cup squad “a blend of experience and youth” and expressed confidence on the veteran players, saying some of them might play until the next Olympics.

But the general refuted when pointed out there is a lack of accountability despite back-to-back defeats. “We have changed at least three selection committees and team management in three years. And that is the prove we have a system of accountability,” he said.

The general expressed confidence in Tahir Zaman when asked why he has been demoted but still retained in the team management and now assisting new coach Shahnaz Sheikh.

“There is no such thing as promotion or demotion in coaching. I am fully satisfied with Tahir’s performance. He is now the assistant coach since Shahnaz is a ‘cool and sober’ person and senior to Tahir,” he said.

Gen Aziz’s statement was amazing as under Tahir’s command Pakistan could not win a single title last year. His side was even thrashed 7-1 by underdogs New Zealand in the Commonwealth Games’ semifinal, and lost 4-2 to Malaysia on penalty shootout in the third place playoff in Busan.

Squad:

Goalkeepers: Ahmad Alam, Mohammad Qasim.

Full-backs: Sohail Abbas, Ali Raza, Tariq Imran.

Half-backs: Dilawar Hussain, Mohammad Saqlain, Waseem Ahmad (vice-captain), Adnan Maqsood, Imran Rasool.

Forwards: Rehan Butt, Mudassir Ali Khan, Kashif Jawwad, Mohammad Nadeem (captain), Shabbir Hussain, Mohammad Aqeel, Shakeel Abbasi, Saleem Khalid.

Reserves:

Nasir, Zeeshan Ashraf, Shahid Waseem, Atif Mushtaq, Shafiq-ul-Islam, Rizwan Butt and Zahid Afzal.