LAHORE: Shakeel Abbasi was called off from training on Wednesday at Hockey Camp owing to the fact that he was fasting, Express News reported.
Abbasi plays center-forward for the Pakistan’s hockey team.
“The hockey coach said that missing a fast can be made up for but not training,” reported Express News correspondent Yusuf Anjum.
Hockey coach Akhtar Rasool said that he had forbidden players from fasting while they were supposed to be training.
Earlier, Pakistan’s failure at the Hockey World League (HWL) had triggered calls for the removal of Rasool as head coach.
One of the players Shahnaz Sheikh had warned that even though the team’s performance was disappointing, the coaches should be retained so that the players don’t lose focus.
“Both the new coaches and the outgoing officials will not admit failure in case Pakistan does not qualify for the World Cup,” Sheikh had said.
