ISLAMABAD – Maradona of Hockey, Shahbaz Sr. believes that Pakistan hockey team needs to play like a unit to secure a decent place in the forthcoming Azlan Shah Cup to be held from May 5-15 in Ipoh, Malaysia.
Pakistan will face New Zealand in the beginning of the event and seven teams including Australia, England, South Korea, New Zealand, Pakistan, India and hosts Malaysia are featuring in the event. The final will be played on May 15.
The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) has picked up 22 players for the event as the second session of the training camp begins here at Naseer Bunda Hockey Stadium from Wednesday under the expertise of the Dutch coach Michel van Den.
Shahbaz Sr, who was one of the best forwards in the history of field hockey, told APP on Wednesday that he believes the Dutch coach lacks communication skills with players which the Pakistani coach would have done
easily.
“A Pakistani coach who has played hockey for Pakistan like Tahir Zaman, Shahnaz Sheikh, and many more can coach the team in a lot better way which other than a coach from another country.
“We people don’t want to work with the present Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) management as I think they are selfish and want to retain their positions.”
Shahbaz, who’s the only player in Field Hockey history to win two consecutive player of the tournament awards in the World Cup 1990 in Lahore and World Cup 1994 in Sydney, told APP that PHF president Qasim Zia, and Secretary Asif Bajwa are spending the federations money in their own expenses rather to promote hockey.
He said that many times he was offered a decent amount from the federation for things right in federation.
“I told the PHF number of times that I can do the coaching job free of cost but a delay on their part has made me loose my interest in it and now I just share my views and advices to the PHF through media.”
Shahbaz, who leads the list of most-capped Pakistanis with 304 caps in international field hockey was depressed with PHF saying that they want to organise the Indo-Pak series to show the country that they are doing their best to encourage hockey.
Shahbaz, who was awarded the President’s Pride of Performance Medal in 1992, told APP: “we have got a lot of talent in the country but it needs to be dug out and for that the PHF should organise a talent hunt programme to look for the young talented players from all over the country
and should train them from the grass-roots level,” he concluded.
Meanwhile the camp probables are including: Imran Shah (GK), Mazhar Abbas (GK), Muhammad Imran Senior (FB), Sohail Abbas (FB), Muhammad Kashif Javed (RH), Muhammad Rizwan Junior (RH), Waseem Ahmad (CH), Muhammad Tousiq (CH), Fareed Ahmed (CH), Muhammad Rashid (LH), Shafqat Rasool (RM), Waqas Sharif (RO), Abdul Haseem Khan (CF),Muhammad Rizwan Senior (LM), Muhammad Zubair (LF), Muhammad Umar Bhutta (RM),Syed Kashif Shah (FB), Rehan Butt (RO), Shakeel Abbasi (RM), Waqas Akbar (RF), Akhtar Ali (LF) and Muhammad Imran Junior (LF).
