**
Pakistan: Azlan Shah team announced **](http://www.planetfieldhockey.com/Item-View-6225-1)
KARACHI: Winger Nadeem ND replaced veteran forward Mohammad Sarwar as the new Pakistan skipper, getting an 18-member squad with four new faces for the next month’s Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in the Malaysian city of Ipoh.
Once again the Pakistan hockey bosses and their hand-picked team of national selectors shied away from making any worthwhile changes in the national hockey squad as the team announced on Monday after three 35-minute trial sessions hardly had any major surprises.
Though there were expectations that the national selection committee might this time take some bold decisions and pave the path to building a new-look team for the 2004 Olympics in Athens, the squad finalised after the trials once again underlined the fear of the national hockey officials that the replacement of their old horses with rookies might worsen an already dissatisfactory performance at the international level.
“We want to have a blend of experience and youth,” said Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) President General Aziz Khan while explaining the reasons for the decision against going for any sweeping changes in the squad. “Our focus is on the Olympics and we think that both young and experienced players are needed by our team.”
General Aziz pointed out that though the PHF’s emphasis was on Athens, they cannot ignore a few other major international events in which Pakistan have to participate this year including the Azlan Shah Cup and this August’s Champions Trophy in Amsterdam.
“Tournaments like the Champions Trophy and the Azlan Shah Cup are tough events featuring some of the best teams in the world. We cannot afford to do badly in these competitions. We hope that our senior players will help us perform well in the forthcoming tournaments while the youngsters will in the meantime be groomed for the Olympics,” he told sports scribes at a press briefing after the trials held at the Pakistan Steel Sports Complex.
The future of a few senior players including new captain Nadeem, Saqlain and Tariq Imran has been hanging in the balance since the Asian Games’ disappointment when Pakistan finished a poor fourth. All of them have gotten a new lease of life as members of the Pakistan team through their selection for the Azlan Shah Cup.
“We have retained the senior players because we do not want to create a vacuum,” commented General Aziz who witnessed the trials along with PHF secretary Brigadier Musarratullah Khan, the members of the national selection committee and the team management.
There are four changes to the squad that last represented in an international event (the Asian Games in Busan) but effectively it is more or less the same team that went through an unimpressive run during the most of 2002.
Former Pakistan skipper Ahmed Alam retains his place as the number one goal-keeper while Mohammad Qasim is the other goalie in the Ipoh-bound squad. Youngster Salman Akber was overlooked and sent to bolster the Pakistan Juniors who are to compete in the Al-Akhbar El-Youm Tournament in Cairo next month.
Short corner specialist Sohail Abbas spearheads the defense that includes comeback fullback Ali Raza and the injury-proned Tariq Imran.
Two newcomers - Adnan Maqsood and Imran Rasool - join Dilawar Hussain, M. Saqlain and Waseem Ahmed in the mid-field.
The forward-line also gets two new entries - strikers Shakeel Abbasi and M. Aqeel. Nadeem, given the job of skipper, will take over the role of the team’s schemer shifting to the left flank from being a right-in following Sarwar’s exit.
The right flank has the two mercurial youngsters, Rehan Butt and Mudassar Ali Khan while Kashif Jawwad retains his place as the centre forward.
Shabbir Hussain and Salim Khalid complete the attack. The selectors also retained eight players as reserves.
The squad was selected after three sessions of trials where the probables mostly played unimpressive and boring hockey on a dry and bouncy synthetic turf of the PS hockey ground.
The new squad and the reserves will get a three-day break before reassembling at the Steel Town for the final leg of training for the Azlan Shah Cup that also features world champions Germany, Korea, India, New Zealand and Malaysia. The Pakistanis are scheduled to leave for Kuala Lumpur on March 14 and will play three tests against Malaysia before competing in the six-nation tournament.
Given under are the names of the Pakistan squad: Goalkeepers: Ahmed Alam, Mohammad Qasim Full-backs: Sohail Abbas, Ali Raza, Tariq Imran Mid-fielders: Dilawar Hussain, Mohammad Saqlain, Waseem Ahmed, Adnan Maqsood, Imran Rasool Forwards: Rehan Butt, Muddassar Ali Khan, Kashif Jawwad, Nadeem ND (captain), Shabbir Hussain, M. Aqeel, Shakeel Abbasi and Saleem Khalid. Reserves: M. Nasir, Zeeshan Ashraf, Shahid Waseem, Atif Mushtaq, Mukhtar, Shafeequl Islam, Rizwan Butt and Zahid Afzal.
Officials: Col (retd) Shahid Jaffri (Manager), Shahnaz Sheikh (Head coach) and Tahir Zaman (Assistant coach).