Former Captains Rehan Butt, Zeeshan Ashraf fail to make entry in National Squad – Hockey News
Former Captains and legendary players from the Greenshirts, Zeeshan Ashraf and Rehan Butt failed to impress the selectors and it seems that their careers have been finished on a bad note. In the recent move, when the officials of the Pakistan Hockey Federation
(PHF) picked up a 25-player squad scheduled to partake in New Zealand Champions Trophy and London Olympics, the two failed to make a spot in the list of probable players.
Pakistan Hockey Team Chief Selector Hanif Khan, who was a great player in his era, stated that the career of the two players Rehan Butt and Zeeshan Ashraf has been completed. He believes that the self statement of Zeeshan Ashraf carried out no meaning for
the national squad.
The Chief Selector while addressing a news conference stated that the former skipper Zeeshan Ashraf himself opted to miss the tournament. He said, “It was not the PHF that showed Zeeshan the door. Not playing was his decision when he opted out of the Sultan
Azlan Shah Cup preparatory camp earlier this year.”
In the very next line, the former Olympian spoke about the returning of Rehan Butt, he declared his performance below par. In his view, the striking line displayed impressive performances without him in the just-concluded Asian Champions Trophy. He added,
“So can we please be happy that we now have younger players able to replace him and even do better than him?”
In the meantime, world’s highest goal-scorer Sohail Abbas has been called back into the national side, as the penalty conversion rate was quite slow in his absence. The Chief of the Selection Committee was of the opinion that the main reason behind the defeat
in the continental tournament was lack of experience in the short corner department.
Hanif continued, “I wouldn’t call not playing Sohail in the Asian Champion’s Trophy a mistake as we wanted to give the junior boys a chance too.”
In his view, they do not have any substitution of Sohail Abbas in the team and that is the reason he was asked to rejoin the camp. The trainer will have to show extra efforts for maintaining his fitness and prepare him for the upcoming 2012 London Olympics.
The Chief Selector continued that those players will be included in the list of central contracts that succeeded to book their places in the beginning camps of the Champions Trophy and London Gala. He was of the opinion that the Greenshirts could be in position
to win a medal in the Olympics if they conclude the Champions Trophy at the Number four spot.
In the concluding remarks, Hanif Khan reiterated that the two former skippers neither would be considered for Champions Trophy nor the Olympics.
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