November 12, 2007	Monday	Ziqa’ad 01, 1428

KARACHI, Nov 11: Goalkeeper Salman Akbar on Sunday replaced Rehan Butt as the new Pakistan captain for the Champions Trophy, scheduled to be held at Kuala Lumpur from Nov 29.

Salman will be leading a 20-member hockey squad in the prestigious eight-nation tournament. The squad was named after extensive two-day trials which were held here at the Hockey Club of Pakistan Stadium.

President, Pakistan Hockey Federation, Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali also watched the trials at the HCP on Sunday before announcing the team.

Flanked by chief selector Khawaja Zakauddin and members of the committee including Olympian Abdul Rasheed and Samiullah Khan and PHF Secretary Khalid Mahmood, Jamali said: “Rehan has been rested to gain top form and fitness and can bounce back in the team with good performance.”

Young forward Inayatullah and Muhammad Afzal are the two newcomers in the team while the two recalled half-backs Dilawar Bhatti and Ghazanfar Ali have been selected after almost a year’s absence from international hockey.

“We cannot pick those players who failed to attend the camp,” said the PHF chief while responding to a query about the exclusion of record-breaking Olympian Sohail Abbas and Waseem Ahmed.

Deep defender Imran Warsi also failed to attend the training camp because of shoulder surgery while Ihsanullah developed knee cartilage problem during the training and was advised four weeks rest by the specialists.

“I hope the players will show full commitment after so many facilities have been extended to them,” said Jamali.

He, however, admitted to some shortcomings in the team, particularly the lack of fitness which he hoped would improve in the coming days.

“Pakistan have been facing selection problems because of injuries to some key players,” he said. “But the team management is making all out efforts to bring the best out of the players. Despite the recent decline, Pakistan is still a force to reckon with.”

While Jamali expressed his disappointment over the shifting of Champions Trophy to Kuala Lumpur from Lahore, he observed that the European teams could be at a disadvantage in Malaysia because of hot and humid conditions which may work in favour of the Asian sides.

Squad:

Goalkeepers: Salman Akbar (captain), Nasir Ahmed.

Full-backs: Zeeshan Ashraf, Muhammad Imran, Muhammad Kashif, Kamran.

Half-backs: Imran Khan, Adnan Maqsood, Dilawar Hussain Bhatti, Ghazanfar Ali, Sajjad Anwar.

Forwards: Waqas Sharif, Shakeel Abbas, Waqas Akber, Shabbir Ahmed Khan, Abbas Hyder, Akhtar Ali, Muhammad Arshad, Inyatullah, Muhammad Afzal.—APP