KARACHI Pakistans hockey coach Michel van den Heuvel, who is believed to be hired on a lucrative package, on Saturday skipped the team's evening training sessions for its tour to Europe, leaving a “physiotherapist” to supervise while the Dutchman flew for discussions with officials in Lahore.
Although team manager, Manzoor Hussain, who also left for Lahore on Saturday, said he was unaware of the reason for Heuvel's visit to Lahore, there are reports that the Dutchman might have went to discuss the issue of team selection or to deliberate on bringing in a goalkeeping coach and doctor of his choice for the team.
Whatever the reasons for Heuvel's mysterious dash to Lahore, it certainly indicates there are things that were not discussed before hiring the Dutchman. This situation also belies tall claims made by Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) that the coach has been engaged after discussing all the terms and conditions.
Sources said Heuvel had expressed to PHF secretary Asif Bajwa that he wanted to hold discussion only in Lahore when the official was in Karachi on Thursday.
Manzoor, however, claimed Heuvel's visit to Lahore was on schedule when he joined the Pakistan squad on Monday.
It remains unclear, however, what the pressing issue was which forced the coach to leave the training camp and that too with physiotherapist Faizur Rahman as in-charge.
Although he was not aware who conducted the training sessions in the evening, Manzoor confirmed Faiz was serving as physiotherapist at the camp.
Heuvel's absence from the camp was unprofessional indeed, especially if one takes into consideration the lucrative package he has been reported to be receiving. The Dutchman will reportedly be getting somewhere in between Rs1 and 1.6million per month.
A visit to the camp by Dawn.com reminded one the phrase “when the cat's away, the mice will play”. The camp has no less than five former Pakistan captains and several veterans having played hockey for some 10 years or more. It was obvious that players seemed not only “relaxed” but in a “jovial and carefree” mood, cracking jokes and hardly giving any importance to the “physiotherapist” who conducted the sprinting and running sessions for endurance.
Interestingly, while Faiz was at the helm in the field acting as the coach, assistant coaches Ahmad Alam and Muhammad Ajmal watched the sessions mostly from the VIP sofas up in the stadium.
Even at one stage of the laps around the field after the sprint sessions, Abdul Qayyum Dogar tried to slip behind the pack of trainees during the long run and almost stopped to take “some rest”, while Rehan Butt evaded 25 push-ups ordered by the “physio.”
Salman Akbar, who skipped Azlan Shah Cup last month, to play in a league abroad, threw his weight behind Heuvel, saying the training by the Dutchman was certainly better than what he had in the previous training camps.
Salman last played under Shahid Ali Khan and Asif Bajwa, who also acted as the team manager at the World Cup in New Delhi where team finished as woondenspoonists.
“I am sure that training by him (Heuvel) is much better than to what we used to have in the previous camps. Now there are three sessions instead of two and we are having good training,” Salman told Dawn.com after the sessions.
The burly goalkeeper also gave thumbs up to the idea of hiring a foreign goalkeeping coach of Heuvel's choice.
“Now in modern day hockey we need a good goalkeeping coach. If we have a foreign coach, why can't we have a goalkeeping coach? But he must be good. Ahmad (Alam) is now training us (the goalkeepers), but it will be good if we have a foreign goalkeeping coach,” said the goalie.
Ahmad is a controversial figure and recently barely avoided a red card when he used profanity to protest an umpiring decision during a local tournament while acting as the coach of Karachi.
According to Pakistan's manager, Heuvel is expected to return on Sunday, while team manager returns on Monday. Sunday will be rest day.
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