RAWALPINDI Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) has announced 25 probable for the preparation of three-nation hockey tournament in Australia followed by Champion Trophy in New Zealand to be played in December. The final squad will be finalized for 2012 London Games after watching the players performance in these tournaments. Pakistan team is set to embark upon a very important tour first of Australia and then for the Champions Trophy, when this scribe contacted former Olympian Shahnaz Sheikh to seek his comments regarding the selection and other affairs, he said: First of all by recalling senior players like Sohail Abbas and Salman Akbar, in fact PHF has accepted their blunder for not including these players in the inaugural Asian Champions Trophy that cost Pakistan the final against India. But we lost this opportunity due to our non-professional approach. He said: Before the selection of the team former Olympians called for inclusion of senior players particularly in the final and their absence was felt badly as Pakistan failed to convert a single short corner out of nine and we lost due to poor goal keeping in plenty shoot out. He claimed He said that top teams of the world ready to flex their muscles for top honours and in these events full press and zoom hockey is being played as compared to easy going and social hockey and the responsibility of the senior players would also increase to win the Olympics gold for their country. He added that we have been proposing suggestions to PHF for the last 3 years but unfortunately PHF was paying no heed. PHF must start long duration training camps, preferably 6 to 8 weeks keeping in view of tournament venue. Pattern of training should be based on competitive/pressure, individual skill/drill training followed by team training for better match temperament. All this training involves both attacking/and defensive playing strategy to sustain pressure. Last but not least before the selection of the team for better composition a home matches series in different cities for the input and moral support from the public before the start of tournament should be organized. Champion Trophy in New Zealand is important for two reasons, at present Pakistan world ranking is 8th and fresh ranking of the teams would be announced after this tournament, secondly the performance of the participating team would definitely judge teams future tours such as Olympic Games. Shahnaz said: One important point which must be kept in mind is since eight teams are participating in the event and are divided into two pools which mean event has become tougher and to secure 6 or 7 points would lead Pakistan to the top 4 hockey playing nations which will help in lifting the spirits of the team for Olympic Games. All these suggestions/recommendations were discussed in the recent Olympians meeting at Islamabad which were attended in numbers by the former hockey greats, Shahnaz concluded.