LAHORE, Sept 11: In the aftermath of the Olympic debacle Pakistan senior hockey team and its management went through major changes on Saturday as assistant coach Tahir Zaman was "sidelined" , manager Dr Lt-Col Yousuf Baig was demoted and three aging veterans axed for the series against India.

"Tahir Zaman has been sidelined because he was associated with the team for a long time," a PHF press release stated.

Olympian Asif Bajwa, who was the junior team coach has replaced Tahir, while Samiullah will be the "touring manager" of the team in place of Yousuf who has been reverted as team doctor. Sami's appointment came after he, along with three other Olympians, was recently called by National Assembly's standing committee on sports for his expert comments on the decline of hockey.

PHF has been claiming Tahir as its future asset and a dedicated coach but surprisingly it opted to "sideline" the asset following the pathetic performance in Athens.

Tahir, who was inducted in the team in 2002, worked with Col Zafar Ali Khan, Shahnaz Sheikh and Oltmans. However, he did not enjoy good relationships with them.

In another surprising move, Dutchman Oltmans will not be having the services of his recommended goalkeeping coach Ronald Jansen and physiotherapist Derek Verder. PHF has opted for Dr Faiz-ur-Rehman as physiotherapist, but video analyst Roberto Tolentino has been retained.

Goalkeeper Ahmad Alam, skipper Mohammad Nadeem and defender Ali Raza, who have been unimpressive for quite a long time have been shown the door, while Mohammad Saqlain, ousted by Oltmans on disciplinary grounds, has been recalled for this month's series against India.

"After a careful thought, the national selection committee has recommended that three of the players, Ahmad Alam, Ali Raza and Mohammad Nadeem should not be considered as the age is catching up fast while there is a tough schedule of activities at hand," PHF press release said.

"The player (Saqlain) has been punished after being excluded from Olympic contingent and now he would be well disciplined and well behaved. The president PHF has approved the decision. Eight younger players have been included keeping an eye on the coming events," the press release added.

The 21 probables have been invited to attend the training camp under the new team management at the Hockey Club of Pakistan from Sept 19.

Probables:

PTCL: Salman Akbar, Ghazanfar Ali, Shakeel Abbasi, Adnan Zakir, Tariq Aziz, Akhtar Ali.

NBP: Zeeshan Ashraf, Adnan Maqsood, Imran Warsi, Abdul Asim Khan.

HBL: Kashif Jawwad, Imran Khan.

Wapda: Rehan Butt, Mudassir Ali Khan, Shabbir Hussain, Waseem Ahmad, Sohail Abbas.

ABL: Mohammad Saqlain.

Army: Dilawar Hussain, Mohammad Imran.

Sindh: Nasir Ahmad.