PHF drops Sohail, Waseem, Saqlain from Asia Cup

Lahore, Aug 1 (UNI) In a bid to enforce discipline among the players, the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) dropped Mohammad Saqlain, drag flicker Sohail Abbas and Waseem Ahmad from the list of 30 probables for Asia Cup training camp to be held in Karachi from Aug 19.

According to sources, the PHF has been under tremandous presssure to take strict action against the trio as they had ''scant'' respect for discipline and always considered themselves above the rules and regulatons of the federation.

However, the PHF said the reason for the exclusion of the trio was that they had not played at any local tournament to prove their physical fitness.

The PHF had ealier 'debarred' these players as they had preferred foreign league over national duty just ahead of their training camp for Doha Asian Games last year.

''None of the players have contacted the PHF so far for the fitness test, therefore, they have not been included in the list of probables,'' a PHF spokesman was quoted by the 'Dawn' as saying.

The tournament is scheduled to be held in Chennai from Sept 1 to 9.

Probables: Salman Akbar, Majid Khan, Shakeel Abbasi, Shabbir Khan, Abbas Haider, Shakir Muneer, Rana Asif, Rehan Butt, Mohammad Zubair, Mohammad Mudassir, Waqas Sharif, Imran Khan, Ishtiaq Ahmed, Kashif Ali, Alamgir, Saeed Shah, Nasir Ahmad, Ihsan Ullah Khan, Yasir Islam, Waqas Akbar, Tariq Aziz, Adnan Zakir, Akhtar Ali, Sumair Saleem, Mohammad Arshad, Mohammad Imran, Waqas Zafar, Ali Rahman, Rashid Imran, Mohammad Amin.

UNI