ISLAMABAD - Olympian Kamran Ashraf has said that around 80 players will be shortlisted out of 120 and will be trained for the upcoming Asian Junior Cup in Dhaka.
Talking to The Nation, Kamran, who is commanding the Pakistan U-18 junior hockey camp here at the Naseer Bunda Hockey Stadium, said that he had sent written request to the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) to make arrangements for the scrutiny tests. “We wanted age scrutiny of 84 players, but after sensing it would cost a lot of expenditures of conducting wrist and bone tests of the players, we decided to send around 40 to 42 players for the test.”
On the other hand, the sources in the PSB have confirmed to this scribe that the PSB is not willing to pay the scrutiny expenditures. “The PSB wants Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) to bear all the expenses at its own.”
The sources further revealed that after realising it would be too costly, the federation had decided to send 20 players for scrutiny from either Shifa International Hospital or other laboratory. Kamran confirmed that PSB instructor Nasrullah Rana was present during age scrutiny conducted by PSB medical team and they had cleared around 40 plus players through face reading.
When this scribe contacted PSB Deputy Director General Dr Waqar, who is medical head at medical centre, he confirm that the PHF request had been received for arranging scrutiny tests of around 20 players and the tests would be conducted on Monday or Tuesday.
When this scribe wanted to know what would be the cost of one player’s tests, Dr Waqar said it would be around Rs 2200 to Rs 2800. When asked why did PSB not made arrangements at medical centre to conduct scrutiny tests, Waqar said: “No, it is not possible. Firstly, as government institution, our report can easily be challenged at courts and secondly, there will always be doubts about authenticity of our reports and we have to hire highly trained people, especially for scrutiny purposes.”
He said nobody could determine the exact age of a player. “We have different ways and means to verify ages of the players. Firstly, we use face reading, make eye contact with the player and then check his heart beat. Believe me when a player is guilty, his heart starts pumping very fast. Let me share one thing very clearly, there is absolutely no way in medical science to describe 100 percent accurate age and there is always six months benefit of doubt given to each person, who go through age scrutiny process,” Dr Waqar asserted.
Kamran said he was satisfied with the progress of the players, but his main concern was the meal being provided to the players and hoped the quality would improve when the players would be shortlisted. “We are not taking that quality food, which was being expected. The first stage of the camp will conclude in a couple of days. The second stage is most likely to start in Islamabad, which will continue till the departure of junior team to Dhaka, as players need rest to cool down after hectic training.”
When asked whether some of the players in the camp were worth of taking to this year’s junior world cup in India in December, Kamran said: “No, it’s too early. They will be ready for the next world cup that’s for sure and Pakistan hockey team will get a number of future stars. I have detected some brilliant and quality players, who will get polished and groomed through training and can prove assets for Pakistan hockey and serve the country in the years to come.”