KARACHI, 7 July 2006 — Pakistan hockey authorities are considering pardoning temperamental striker Tariq Aziz later this summer in a bid to get him back in the national squad for this September’s World Cup in Germany.
Reliable sources said Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) is expected to reduce Tariq’s six-month ban to make him eligible for selection for the World Cup squad.
The 12-nation World Cup is penciled in from Sept. 6 to 17 in the German city of Monchengladbach.
Tariq, a former Pakistan junior team skipper, was suspended for six months by the PHF following his off-the-ball assault on an Australian player in the final of the Commonwealth Games in March this year.
Tariq, who received a red card earlier in the tournament held in Melbourne, was sent off in the title match for hitting Australia’s Robert Hammond. The player received stitches on lip and had to sit out the remainder of the final. The PHF punishment, which was later endorsed by the International Hockey Federation (FIH), ruled Tariq out of a series of international events including the World Cup. But a dearth of quality wingers is now forcing the national hockey bosses to reconsider their decision. The idea to pardon Tariq, who has already served a three-month period, first came under discussion when the PHF top officials, national selection committee members and the team management sat together to select an 18-member squad for last month’s Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Kuala Lumpur. Most of the officials were unhappy with the way the team’s leading wingers performed during the two-day trials and a few of them floated the idea of having Tariq back in the side by cutting short his sentence.
The move, however, could not win enough supporters and Pakistan hockey’s think tank decided against recalling the young winger for the Malaysian assignment. A couple of youngsters were inducted in the Kuala Lumpur-bound squad that also featured seasoned winger M. Shabbir currently going through an awful run of form. The issue is, however, set to be reopened later this month when Pakistan would select their squad for the Champions Trophy to be held in Terrassa, Spain. The national team’s performance was pretty pathetic in Malaysia where it finished a fifth in the eight-nation contest. One of the causes behind the Azlan Shah Cup failure was a mediocre showing from the forwards. According to sources, some of the selectors have been actively supporting the idea of recalling Tariq because of a poor showing from forwards playing on the team’s left flank. They do not rate Tariq very highly but believe that he could be a better choice to play in the left-in and left-out positions than Shabbir or Saleem Khalid, who made a return to the national team for the Azlan Shah Cup after being out for almost two years.
