Overage: Pakistan, India both guilty

Pakistan's junior hockey coach Ayaz Mahmood was probably holding the mirror to himself when he accussed India today of fielding over-age pla...

Pakistan8217;s junior hockey coach Ayaz Mahmood was probably holding the mirror to himself when he accussed India today of fielding over-age players in their team that won the four-nation tournament at Kuala Lumpur recently.

However, the irony is that the Pakistan Hockey Federation has not even lodged an official complaint with the organisers. But probably fearing a backlash at home, the Pak coach has attributed his team8217;s debacle to the 8216;8216;presence of over-age8217;8217; players in the rival team.

Mahmood told Dawn in Islamabad that 8216;8216;Some of the Indian players definitely looked over-age. It is not only me, but the organisers also observed the Indians were over-aged.8217;8217;

The Indian Hockey Federation IHF rubbished the allegation and its president KPS Gill told The Indian Express that 8216;8216;the fact India has been winning more than Pakistan has created resentment there. He the Pakistan coach is playing safe in his country by maligning the Indian team.8217;8217;

But Gill8217;s remark that the overage charge is total rubbish and 8216;8216;we were very careful in picking the players8217;8217; will find few takers at home.

Especially given recent cases when former Indian skipper Pargat Singh made the same allegation against the Indian juniors who won the 2001 World Cup. He had named at least six players who were part of the winning squad.

The problem appears to be the same in Pakistan. The Pakistani media had reported on overage problems at the PHF trials to pick the team for the Junior Asia Cup. The PHF8217;s national selection committee chief Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali said at that time that 8216;8216;we have allowed the players to appear in the trials on the basis of documents they had submitted as age proof.8217;8217;

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After the trials, the committee was to scrutinise the age proof documents to ensure that only the under-21 players attended the training camp.

This is no less ridiculous than the allegations made by the Pakistani coach. Interestingly, the PHF8217;s junior selection panel also included the likes of star forward and former captain Tahir Zaman.