Pak relying on Abbas to make the 2010 WC grade

Karachi, April 21: Pakistan`s troubled hockey officials are banking on ace penalty corner striker Sohail Abbas to take them through to the 2010 World Cup by winning the Asia Cup tournament in Malaysia next month.Abbas and three other senior players -- Waseem Ahmed, Salman Akber and Rehan Butt -- have been recalled for a national training camp that began yesterday in Lahore in preparation for the Asia Cup. Abbas and Waseem have made a comeback to the national camp after nearly three years as they last played for the national team in 2006. While forward Butt and goalkeeper Akber have also been out of favor since last year. The Pakistan hockey Federation (PHF) had banned Abbas and Waseem from the national team since late 2006 when they refused to attend a national camp for the Asian Games as they had professional commitments with their clubs in the Dutch hockey league. The Federation had decided to keep them out in the cold accusing them of sacrificing national interest to earn some extra money. But the present PHF set-up has decided to fall back on the senior quartet after another unusually disappointing show in the recent Azlan Shah Cup in Malaysia which India won. Pakistan finished fourth in the five team rankings. "We are banking on the comeback of these senior players to strengthen the team and improve their performance in the Asia Cup," PHF Secretary Asif Bajwa told reporters from Lahore. "We have tried out several young and new players and since the Asia Cup is a direct qualification tournament for the World Cup we felt it was time we re-laid on the senior players," Bajwa said. He said all four seniors were certain to be in the final team of 18 if they were 100 per cent fit in the training camp. Abbas is one of the most dreaded penalty corners strikers in the world and in his career became the world s leading goal scorer with over 200 goals before he fell out of favour with the federation. "At least till he was in the side we were not losing to weak teams like New Zealand, China or Malaysia," former Olympian Waseem Feroze said. Pakistan last won a major grand slam title in 1994 when they beat Holland in the World Cup final. Abbas said he was always available for Pakistan but the previous federation set-ups were not willing to show any flexibility with him over his contract as a professional player in the Dutch league which earned him good money and improved his skills. Bureau Report