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LAHORE, Aug 9: Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) on Tuesday announced the format and participating teams in the first Super League to be held under floodlights at Hockey Club of Pakistan from Sept 8 to 18. In all six teams, one from each province, Northern Areas and Islamabad would compete. There would be 18 matches, 15 in the single league and three classification matches. Each match will have four halves of 17 minutes 30 seconds. Each interval will be of two minutes and 30 seconds.
Asked how the less numbers of matches and four halves would serve the purpose of increasing stamina of the players, the secretary said PHF was following pattern adopted by the Indian Hockey Federation which organized the league last year.
Asked why Sohail Abbas and Waseem Ahmad had not been included in any team, the secretary lamented that both preferred to play in the Netherlands. Reacting over an interview by Sohail he said the player had showed “double standards”.
“In the interview, Sohail claimed that he has a great respect for the green shirt and the country, but in fact he opted to play in the Netherlands”. The secretary said that one Indian player would be included in each team. Last year, some Pakistani players including Sohail participated in the Indian League.
The secretary negated the impression that the European players had refused to participate in the league, while few days ago PHF director marketing had said European players had refused to visit Pakistan on security grounds.
“The PHF has not invited any Europeans. However, Malaysian Hockey Federation said its players will not be available because of Malaysian league in September.”
He said except Aug 14, two matches would be played daily which would be telecast live by PTV and a Dubai-based sports channel. The first match begins at 7.00pm and the second at 9.00am.
TEAMS:
SINDH QALANDARS: Ahmed Alam (captain), Tariq Yamin, Gohar Rasool, Atif Mushtaq, Asim Khan, Adnan Zakir, Kashif Jawad, Muhammad Zubair, Muhammad Shabbir, Rashid (Army), Muhammad Khaliq, Mazhar, Zeeshan, Rana Fayyaz, Mukhtar Hussain Rashid, Sameer Hussain, and an Indian player.
Manager: Hanif Khan. Coach: Nasir Ali. Assistant coach: Waseem Feroze. Goalkeeper trainer: Mansoor.
SHAN-E-PUNJAB: Muhammad Saqlain (captain), Salman Akbar, Tariq Imran, Ghazanfar Ali, Malik Shafqat, Waqas Sharif, Arshad, Mustansar Sheikh, Tariq Aziz, Shafqat Rasool, Waqas Liaqat, Muhamamd Shahid, Shahzad Ahmed, Anayat Ullah, Muhammad Shahbaz, Adnan Mushtaq, Muhammad Ashraf, an Indian. Manager: Manzoor Junior. Coach: Naveed Alam. Assistant coach: Saleem Shirwani. Goalkeeper coach: Muhammad Tariq.
FRONTIER FALCONS: Rahim Khan (captain),Iqbal, Imran Warsi, Ehsan Ullah, Sumair Saleem, Shahid Waseem, Aamir Shahzad, Muhammad Arif, Yasir Islam, Muhammad Farooq, Naveed Iqbal, Farhan, Kashif Ali, Rizwan-ul-Haq, Amar Ishrat, Saeed Shah, Naeem Akbar, an Indian. Manager: Farhat Khan. Coach: Qamar Ibrahim. Assistant coach: Qasim Khan. Goalkeeper coach: Rauf.
BALOCH LIONS: Muhammad Sarwar (captain), Zeeshan Ashraf, Ikhlaq Junior, Imran Khan, Rana Asif, Sajjad Anwar, Zakir Ullah, Shakeel Abbasi, Shabbir Hussain, Saleem, Imran Shah, Adnan Hamid, Irfan, Abu Bakar, Asif Bilal, Shakir Munir, Khurram Butt, an Indian. Manager: Rasheed Baloch. Coach: Danish Kaleem. Assistant coach: Khawaja Awais. Goalkeeper coach: Jillani.
NORTHERN CAVALIERS: Muhammad Nadeem (captain), Nasir, Muhammad Imran, Amir Saleem, Sultan Ashraf, Khalid Mahmood, Dilawar, Rehan Butt, Saleem Khalid, Mahmood, Akhtar Ali, Khurram Majeed, Fayyaz Ahmed, Ishtiaq Ahmed, Kashif Yaqoob, Mudassar Abbas, an Indian. Manager: Ashraf Awan. Coach: Rana Zaheer. Assistant coach: Safdar Abbas. goalkeeper coach: Arshad.
CAPITAL DYNAMOS: Mudassar Ali Khan (captain), Amanullah, Atiq-ur- Rehman, Ali Raza, Muhammad Usman, Adnan Maqsood, Inam-ur-Rehman, Shani, Naeem Akram, Asghar, Tariq Mahmood, Muhammad Sami, Shahid Rabbani, Rizwan Butt, Razzzaq, Ghulam Murtaza, Waqas Akbar.
