Karachi to host Pak hockey trials instead of Lahore: PHF

LAHORE: The two-day trials for selection of Pakistan hockey team to take part in the Asian Champions Trophy will be held from Oct 11 at Karachi not in Lahore.

“The trials have been shifted to Karachi owing to unavoidable circumstances,” said a spokesman for PHF while talking to APP here on Thursday. 18-member Pak team will take part in the Trophy being played in Muscat, Oman from Oct 18 to 28. The trials will be watched by the national selection committee, headed by Islah-ud-Din and Ayaz Mehmood, Musaddaq Hussain and Qasim Khan as its members. President PHF Brig (retd) Khalid Sajjad Khokhar and Secretary Shahbaz Ahmad will also be witnessing the players in action during trials.

The ongoing training hockey camp here preparing the players for the Trophy here will come to an end on Oct 6 and players will leave for their homes after attending morning session training programme.

After three-day break, they will re-assemble at Karachi on Oct 9 and will report to camp commandant, former Pakistan captain, Hasan Sardar, and will undergo training till commencement of trials. The team will leave for Oman on Oct 14.

Following are the names of twenty nine players attending the camp: Imran Butt, Mazhar Abbas, Amjad Ali, M Irfan Senior, Rashid Mehmood, Aleem Bilal, Ammad Shakeel Butt, Mubashar Ali, Tassawar Abbas, Rizwan Junior, Rizwan Senior, Toseeq Arshad, Ali Shan, Umer Bhutta, Abu Bakr Mehmood, Azfar Yaqoob, M Atiq, Arslan Qadir, Ejaz Ahmad, Rana Sohail, Irfan Junior, M Dilbar, Faisal Qadir, M Rizwan, Atif Mushtaq, Rizwan Ali, M Zubair, Saaran bin Qamar, Muneeb ur Rehman and Syed Zeeshan Bukhari.