Senior hockey team’s training in Karachi from January 12 PHF calls 74 players

KARACHI: Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) has called 74 players for the national senior team’s training camp, starting at the Abdul Sattar Edhi Hockey Stadium, Karachi, from January 12.

The list includes a number of players named for the first time for seniors. They have been picked on the basis of performance at the recently held National Hockey Championships in Lahore.

The training camp is being organised for the tour of New Zeeland and Australia.

The seniors will play a five-test series against New Zeeland in March and go to Australia where they will participate in a four-nation tournament along with the hosts, New Zeeland and Malaysia or India.

Pakistan hockey team is preparing to participate in the qualifying rounds of Seniors World Cup 2019, scheduled to be held in London in June this year. Five teams will qualify from those rounds.

Pakistan can also qualify for the World Cup if they win the Asia Cup 2017, which will be held in India.

PHF wants Pakistan team to qualify for the World Cup form London’s visit so that it has enough time to prepare.

Pakistan failed to qualify for World Cup 2014 and Rio Olympics 2016.

Pakistan’s head coach Khawaja Junaid, when contacted, said that the participants of the camp had been increased to establish a pool of most talented players of the country. “As many as 26 players of the junior team have been included in the training camp so that what they had learnt for World Cup in India — in which they could not participate because of visa issue — does not go waste. The players who performed well in the national championship have also been included so that they may learn in the camp from the seniors,” Junaid said.

The head coach said those who did well at national championship could be part of New Zealand and Australia tour if they performed well in the camp.

He said that Pakistan team would depart on March 10 for New Zealand.

Goalkeepers:

Imran Butt (PIA), Amjad Ali (SSGC), Mazhar Abbas (NBP), Ali Raza (NBP), Muneeb-ur-Rehman (SSGC), Hafiz Umair Ali (SNGPL), Ali Haider (PIA), Waleed Akhtar (PIA).

Defenders:

Asad Aziz (Navy), M Aleem Bilal (WAPDA), Muhammad Irfan (PIA), Nawaz Ishfaq (SSGC), Qazi Asfand (WAPDA), Rashid Mahmood (Navy), Tasawar Abbas (WAPDA), Faisal Qadir (NBP), Fareed Ahmad (WAPDA), Toseeq Arshad (NBP), M Rizwan Jr (SSGC), Taimoor Malik (PIA), Zohaib Ashraf (WAPDA), M Atif Mushtaq (NBP), Hassan Anwar (WAPDA), Mubasshir Ali (NBP), Zahid Ullah (PAF), Abu Bakar Mahmood (NBP), Faizan (NBP), M Junaid Kamal (NBP), M Usman (Railways), Tazeem-ul-Hassan (Railways), Muhammad Adnan (SSGC), Ammad Shakeel Butt (NBP), Kashif Ali (PIA), Sohail Manzoor (Punjab), Amir Sultan (Navy), Zubair (Army), Rehan Ashraf (KP)

Forwards:

M Irfan Junior (WAPDA), Fayyaz Yaqoob (Sargodha), M Umar Bhutta (WAPDA), Arslan Qadir (NBP), Ali Shan (SSGC), Ijaz Ahmad (WAPDA), M Rizwan Senior (Army), Rana M Umair (WAPDA), Abdul Haseem Khan (Karachi), Hafiz Hussnain (HEC), Faisal Rashid (Sheikhupura), Adeel (HEC), Karim Khan (PTV), M Zubair (PIA), Shafqat Rasool (PIA), Sharjeel (Police), Nohaiz Zahid Malik (Sialkot), Yasir Dilawar (PQA), Nadeem (Rawalpindi), Ajmal Butt (Railways), Shan Irshad (NBP), M Azfar Yaqoob (NBP), Muhammad Dilber (NBP), Muhammad Atiq (NBP), M Bilal Qadir (NBP), Mohsin Sabir (Navy), Rana Suhail Riaz (SSGC), Sami Ullah (PAF), Muhammad Rizwan (SSGC), Muhammad Naveed (NBP), Fahad Ullah Khan (PAF), Umar Hamdi (WAPDA), Awais-ur-Rehman (PIA), Sabir (Navy), Abdul Jabbar (SNGPL), Zeeshan Ashraf (HEC), Awais (Army)

Officials:

Hanif Khan (Camp Commandant/Manager), Lt Col (Retd) Mohsin (Assistant Manager), Khawaja Junaid (Head Coach), Ahmed Alam (Coach), Nadeem Lodhi (Video Analyst).