KARACHI, 28 July 2007 — World’s highest goal scorer Sohail Abbas is expected to make a comeback in the Pakistan squad for this December’s Champions Trophy in Lahore as national hockey officials are considering to invite him for the elite six-nation event.
The highly-rated short corner specialist last played for Pakistan in the 2006 World Cup in Germany and it seemed that his international career was over after the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) blacklisted him and several other senior players for missing a training camp for last December’s Asian Games in Doha.
However, Arab News has learned that the PHF top bosses have almost agreed to give Sohail and some of the other seniors one more chance though the players will have to show up for a couple of training camps before wearing the Pakistan kit again.
Sources say that though Pakistan’s head coach Islahuddin is not really interested in recalling some of the senior players, he is willing to take a chance with Sohail because of his skills as a drag flicker. Sohail holds the world record for most goals because of expertise as a short corner specialist.
Islah, a former Olympian, is also ready to try two experienced midfielders — Ghazanfar Ali and Dilawar Hussain — who fell out of favor with the PHF officials over their decision to play league hockey abroad after skipping a national training camp.
However, sources said that Islah and other team officials are not in favour of bringing back influential midfielder Muhammad saqlain — a former Pakistan captain — because of ‘his proven record as a trouble maker’.
For some time now, Pakistani hockey circles have been debating over the pros and cons of recalling experienced national players in the Pakistani squad that has failed to produce any worthwhile results in the recent past. The group favoring a return of the seniors, believe they can strengthen the team with their experience while others argue that the comeback of older players would hamper Pakistan’s efforts to rebuild their team. Pakistan are still ranked fifth in the world but their morale dipped to a new low after finishing a disappointing sixth place finish in the eight-nation Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Malaysia earlier this summer.
The PHF, on the request of the team management, withdrew Pakistan from this September’s Asia Cup in India in a bid to shield their players from further losses. Instead, the federation sent the national team to a lowly four-nation event in Russia that involved international hockey minnows Scotland, Russia and Ukraine.
Islah, however, points out that Pakistan have also failed to win a major tournament even in the presence of their senior players.
“Pakistan could not even qualify for the semifinals in the World Cup last year though Sohail and all other senior players were there in the team,” he says. Islah refrains from talking on the issue of recalling the senior players, but he concedes that some of the experienced players can still contribute to the national subject to their fitness. “There is no doubt that experience is important but the key element in today’s hockey is fitness. We would see how keen and fit these senior players are then take a final decision,” he adds. PHF secretary Khalid Mehmood, meanwhile, believes that Sohail and some of the other senior players could play for Pakistan in the Champions Trophy and next summer’s Olympic Games in Beijing.
