Pakistan Hockey once again finds itself in the middle of several crises ahead of the 29th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup set to take place in Ipoh, Malaysia.
After Ammad Butt and Mubashar Ali, two of the most experienced players in the team tendered their resignation to the Hockey federation, several other players refused to join the national team training camp choosing to apply their craft in English leagues instead.
The players include Hammaduddin Anjum, Ahmed Nadeem, Abdul Manan, Ghazanfar Ali, Moeen Shakeel, Ijaz Ahmed and Rizwan Ali.
A contingent of 23 other invitees did report to camp and trained at Abdul Sattar Edhi Hockey Stadium in Karachi in preparation for the tournament.
Ammad and Mubashar were part of the squad which participated in the Commonwealth Games but decided to stay in Birmingham after getting NOCs from former Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) secretary Asif Bajwa. PHF, however, has since cancelled their NOCs but they have refused the call-up.
Another issue plaguing the national squad is the availability of their head coach Siegfried Aikman who is in the midst of visa issues but is expected to join the camp soon. He faced the same scenario ahead of the Commonwealth Games forcing him to miss a considerable time with the squad.
On top of all that it was reported that players had not been paid their dues for some time but the federation seems to have sorted that issue out.
Pakistan is now expected to field an inexperienced hockey team for the 29th edition of the Sultan Azlan Shah cup in the midst of one of its worse runs. The tournament was originally scheduled to take place in 2020 but had to be moved due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
