Three former hockey greats to visit Pakistan

KARACHI: Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) will announce 10 Hall of Fame players on the sidelines of the visit of World Hockey XI.

Five of the players who will be honoured for their services to hockey will be Pakistanis, PHF secretary Shahbaz Ahmed informed ‘The News’ on Monday.

He said that so far three foreign players have confirmed their visit to Pakistan on the occasion of World XI tour in November to receive Hall of Fame award from PHF. The three players are Australia’s Ric Charlesworth, Germany’s Christian Blunck, and Netherlands’ Floris Jan Bovelander.

Shahbaz said the names of the remaining two foreign players were yet to be finalised. The PHF would announce the names of five Pakistani players later, he added.

He said that the visit of eleven foreign goalkeepers from Australia and Argentina had been confirmed and their travelling documents were being processed. He said the participation of foreign goalkeepers in Pakistan’s domestic hockey in Karachi next month would encourage foreign teams to visit Pakistan.

The tour of World XI would also be a great achievement, he added. The selection of players for the World XI is going on, he said. The World XI is to visit Pakistan in November for at least three test matches against Pakistan.

The PHF secretary said the World XI would play matches in Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi. He also said that the FIH was helping the PHF in hiring 11 foreign goalkeepers as well as the tour of World XI.

“This will be the first time that foreign goalkeepers will participate in Pakistan’s domestic hockey. We can say that through this event international hockey players will start coming to Pakistan,” he claimed.

The PHF secretary said the Green-shirts’ training was in full swing these days in Karachi for Asia Cup 2017, which is to be staged in Bangladesh. The team will play a practice match against Japan before the event begins.

He hoped that a combination of senior and junior players would be great for the tournament. He said he expected the team to do well at Asia Cup. “Our hockey will soon come out of the darkness it has been in for so many years,” he added.