KARACHI, May 3: A massive 87 out of 92 boys reported on the opening day of 13-day training camp which commenced at Pakistan Steel Township on Saturday.

Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) is conducting this short training camp to pick promising youngsters for Pakistan Junior Camp being held at same venue from June 8 for the tour of Spain and Poland.

Pakistan junior team will be visiting Spain and Poland in July and August to appear in a couple of international juniors event besides playing Test matches.

Former Olympian Farhat Hussain has been appointed coach at the training camp while Pakistan junior team manager Col (Retd) Abdul Rauf will be camp commandant.

PHF picked 92 boys majority of them from national junior championship for this back-up junior camp.

Col. Rauf said Saturday that five remaining boys from Quetta and Karachi will reporting for trials shortly.

He said after one week training camp on basis of performance, camp will be short-listed to 50 and after another rounds of training promising boys will join junior hockey training camp.

Pakistan junior team manager said Sarfraz Dada and Irshad Haider are supervising physical training in the morning session while practice session and matches and various drills will be done in the afternoon under coach Farhat.

Special trials were staged at Hockey Club of Pakistan Stadium Friday after which 14 more Sindh boys and three from POF, NBP and Punjab were selected to attend the training.

These probables included three from Hyderabad, one each from Larkana and Sanghar.

Olympian and member of the selection committee Hasan Sardar, Col. Rauf and Farhat watched the trials and selected the boys.

Those who were selected included Farhan Asif (POF), Bilal (NBP) were goals keepers and Irshad Hussain (Punjab) if half-back.

Other Sindh boys selected were: Athar (full-back), Sikander Bajwa, Irshad Hussain Adeel Abbas, Junaid Iqbal Shahbaz Mazhar, (half-backs), Noman Zakir, Latif, Ashiq, Adeel Hussain, Farhan Raza, Uzair Ahmed, Tariq Hafeez, Osama Shan and Iftikhar (forwards).

Balochistan: Aamir Ali, Muhammad Shahzad, Mazhar Ali & Muhammad Uzair.—APP