KARACHI, Feb 21: Apathy of the national hockey selectors towards the sport continued as Pakistan junior training camp began on Saturday in the absence of the selection committee.
Pakistan Juniors are scheduled to play two four-match series against The Netherlands and Malaysia next month at Hockey Club of Pakistan.
It is being considered as a run-up to Junior Asia Cup from April 20 at the same which also serves as the Asian qualifying round for next year's Junior World Cup in the Netherlands.
But what should have been a vital activity for the selection committee, is being treated nothing but friendly matches or a routine practice by the selectors who did not bother to see 35 youngsters in action.
Although selector Hassan Sardar visited the venue, it was proved that he too had little interest in the selection process as he came barely 15 minutes before the session ended.
Instead, he seemed to be more interested in the training matters when he chose to leave the sidelines and go inside the field while the probables were still having training.
Hassan, who had been a strong critic of the selection committee's existence in the past, not only became the selector, but also proposed the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) to treat the selection committee as a "think-tank".
And according to Hassan that think-tank should also explore the talent in school and colleges. To rub salt to the wounds, PHF also follows the suggestion of Hassan by sending selectors on every trip abroad.
However, Hassan had no satisfactory reply when asked why should the selectors be sent to joyrides who never bothered to visit the training camps.
"I think these training camps are not important and the selectors could only judge players' performance by watching them during offshore tours," Hassancame with a strange logic.
The "selection committee", however, has become almost redundant since senior team coach Roelant Oltmans overruled its decision by inducting former skipper Mohammad Sarwar in the squad for Madrid's Olympic qualifiers. Sarwar was forced by the PHF to retire after last year's Champions Trophy trials.
Sarwar had charged Hassan and chief selector Akhtar Rasool with bias against him, saying they had threatened the PHF to resign if he (Sarwar) was included in the squad.
Nevertheless, in yet another farcical move, PHF held one-day "trial" to select the squad for Madrid by considering an exhibition match between Pakistan probables and former stars as trial. Interestingly, Oltmans had already announced he would not consider it a trial and only he would submit the squad.
Meanwhile, 35 probables had training sessions under a quartet of four inexperienced coaches. Coach Asif Bajwa was assisted by Jan Mohammad, Ikhlaq Ahmad, and Shahid Ali Khan.
Team manager Jahangir Butt said PHF had invited three more probables in addition to the previous list of 34.
"Mudassir Abbas, Haider Abbas and Mohammad Imtiaz have been added on my recommendations after the junior championship," said coach Asif and added Shabbir and Owais Khan have been ruled out because of lack of physical fitness.
"Shabbir is nursing an injury, while Owais has some respiratory problem. We have received their medical certificates. They will miss the two series and may be considered for Junior Asia Cup on the recommendation of selectors. Abu Bakar is also out of contention as he is out of country," coach said.
Asked whether age scrutiny would be conducted before the Asia Cup, Jahangir ruled out the possibility, saying "there is hardly any time to do that and besides other outfits will also be having over-age players."