Sohail Abbas has been recalled along with senior goalkeeper Salman Akbar. -File photo

KARACHI: Announcing senior (25) and junior (29) hockey team probables for upcoming assignments, Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) chief selector Hanif Khan hinted that former captain and fullback Zeeshan Ashraf and forward Rehan Butt were done playing for Pakistan.

“Zeeshan can keep on saying he is fit and willing to play for Pakistan but it doesn’t carry any meaning,” the chief selector said at the press conference at the Hockey Club of Pakistan on Saturday afternoon.

“It was not the PHF that showed Zeeshan the door. Not playing was his decision when he opted out of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup preparatory camp earlier this year.”

About Rehan Butt, he was of the opinion: “His performance is not what it used to be and the forward line as noted during the recently-concluded Asian Champion’s Trophy is doing very well without him.

“So can we please be happy that we now have younger players able to replace him and even do better than him?”

Meanwhile, power drag-flicker Sohail Abbas has been recalled along with senior goalkeeper Salman Akbar.

Hanif said that failure in converting so many penalty-corners in the Asian Champion’s Trophy was the main reason in bringing Sohail back.

“I wouldn’t call not playing Sohail in the Asian Champion’s Trophy a mistake as we wanted to give the junior boys a chance too. They played very well but lacked in the penalty-corner conversion department.

“Now that we know that we still don’t have a replacement for Sohail, we have decided to call him to the camp where we will work extra hard on his fitness to keep him in good shape until next year’s Olympics,” he added.

Goalkeeper Salman Akbar, who was also missed badly when Pakistan lost 2-4 to India due to weak goalkeeping in the penalty strokes tiebreaker in the Asian Champions Trophy final, is also mentioned in the list of probables.

“Our junior goalkeepers are doing okay too but we have felt a need for a senior and more experienced goalkeeper to help them in their technique and Salman can fulfill that purpose. But he is abroad playing league at the moment.

“Therefore at this point we are not sure if he will be able to report to camp or not,” Hanif informed.

Stressing that they were not being unfair to any player and only making selections on merit, the former forward said that he hoped to have a final senior team for the 2012 Olympics after next month’s tour of Australia and the Champions Trophy in December.

“Central contracts, too, will be awarded to the players that get selected from the preparatory camps held for these two events,” he announced.

“My experience tells me that even if Pakistan finishes fourth in the Champions Trophy, we will be on the podium at the Olympics,” he added.

Asked if Zeeshan Ashraf and Rehan Butt may consider their careers over as they are not picked for the camps which means they will not be considered for the Olympics, Hanif said: “Well, of course not! They still have their departments to play for.”

The senior players will be reporting to manager Khawaja Mohammad Junaid at the Naseer Bunda Hockey Stadium in Islamabad while the juniors will report to manager Rana Mujahid Ali at the Hockey Club of Pakistan.

Both camps commence simultaneously on October 1.

Senior probables: Mohammad Imran, Shakeel Abbasi, Syed Kashif Shah, Imran Butt (GK), Mohammad Rizwan Jr, Waseem Ahmed, Rashid Mahmood, Fareed Ahmed, Mohammad Tousiq, Mohammad Waqas, Sohail Abbas, Mohammad Rizwan Sr, Mohammad Zubair, Mohammad Imran Jr, Abdul Haseem Khan, Imran Shah (GK), Mohammad Umar Bhutta, Mohammad Irfan, Shafqat Rasool, Mohammad Kashif Javed, Ali Shan, Salman Akbar (GK), Tasawwar Abbas and Mohammad Suleman.

Junior probables: Mazhar Abbas (GK), Mohammad Safian (GK), Amjad Ali (GK), Waseem Abbas, Safeer Hussain, Mohammad Umar, Hafiz Rizwan Ali, Mohammad Asad Bashir, Mohammad Arslan Qadir, Faisal Qadir, M. Zahid Khan, Zohaib Ashraf, Mohammad Bilal Qadir, Abdul Qayyum Dogar, Hafiz Umar Sardar, Hassan Mansoor, Mohammad Dilber, Mohammad Adnan Anwar, Aleem Bilal, Mohammad Khalid Bhatti, Mohammad Mushtaq, Ali Hassan Faraz, Ahmad Zubair, Mohammad Bilal Khan, Abdul Karim, Abdul Zohaib Khan, Ammad Butt, Asif Aslam and Arslan Shirazi.