Karachi : Just months after he led Pakistan to its first Asian
Games gold medal in 20 years, seasoned fullback Zeeshan Ashraf has been
sidelined by Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF).
Ashraf, who opted out of this month's Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Malaysia, was
not even included in the preliminary squad for the tour of Europe, which is
being seen as a preparation camp for the 2012 London Olympics.
Three-time Olympic hockey champions Pakistan will kick off their preparations
for the London Games with an extensive training camp in Islamabad from May 30.
It's still more than a year to go before the 2012 Olympics get under way, but
Pakistan have decided to begin preparing for the assignment at full throttle
with their Dutch coach Michel van den Heuvel supervising the camp that will
include top players.
Ashraf was not included in the list of players in the preliminary squad that
was pick for the tour of Europe on Friday.
His omission from the camp probables makes it clear that the PHF has decided
to sideline the aging defender for the 2012 Olympic Games.
Several other senior players, including short corner specialist Sohail Abbas,
were luckier. Sohail along with other seniors like Rehan Butt, Waseem Ahmed and
Shakeel Abbasi were in the preliminary squad.
The camp will begin just weeks before a strenuous tour of Europe where
Pakistan will feature in back-to-back quadrangular tournaments in Dublin
(Ireland) and Amsterdam (the Netherlands) before playing a series of test
matches against European teams.
The Greenshirts followed their title-winning triumph at the Asian Games in
China late last year with a runners-up finish in the Azlan Shah Cup, where they
lost to reigning world champions Australia 2-3 in extra-time.
It was a stunning turnaround for the Pakistanis, who suffered the ignominy of
finishing last in the 2010 World Cup in New Delhi last year. At the same venue,
they also flopped miserably in the Commonwealth Games last year. IANS
