LAHORE: Coach Khawaja Junaid on Saturday reckoned Pakistan, in their bid to complete hat-trick of the Asian Champions Trophy title, would face tough resistance from India, South Korea and Malaysia.

Forty probables have been invited to attend the national camp for selecting a strong squad for the fourth edition of the Asian Champions Trophy to be held in Kuantan, Malaysia from Oct 20 to 30. The camp begins at Lahore’s Johar Town Stadium on Monday.

Pakistan won the second and third editions of the continental championship in 2012 and 2013. In 2011, India had clinched the inaugural event.

“India have improved considerably and now they are No.1 in Asia. Plus they will be returning for the Asian Champions Trophy after playing some tough games in the Rio Olympics,” Junaid noted.

“South Korea and Malaysia will also be formidable opponents. Malaysia, in particular, will be hard to beat, particularly on their home turf.

40 probables named for national camp starting tomorrow

“Given all this, the Asian Champions Trophy will be a huge challenge for the present [team] management and players in their bid to complete a hat-trick,” Junaid acknowledged.

The probables will report to Junaid, who said that training at the camp would be held in three sessions daily.

“In the morning session, focus will be on improving physical fitness; video analysis will be carried out in the second session in the afternoon while the third session [in the evening] has been kept for field practice,” the coach said.

Among the probables announced, the coach said, 12 would be attending a national camp for the first time.

“The idea behind including these new players in the camp is to prepare young blood for the team in future. We picked these players from the recently-held nine- and five-a-side tournaments. We will be giving them proper chances to show their talent at the camp before curtailing the probables’ list to 25 for the second phase of the camp,” he said.

The Kuantan Asian Champions Trophy will be the first major test of Junaid’s coaching credentials after Olympian Shahnaz Sheikh was removed from the post last year by the incumbent PHF following Pakistan’s failure to qualify for the Rio Olympics — the country’s very first absence from the Olympic hockey event.

Earlier, under Shahnaz’s coaching Pakistan had played the final of the Champions Trophy in India to bag silver medal.

Junaid, however, has set qualification for the 2018 World Cup as his main target, for which qualifying rounds will be staged next year.

However, by retaining the Asian Champions Trophy in Kuantan, Pakistan could earn a praiseworthy feat of winning the title for the third consecutive time.

Probables named for the camp:

Goalkeepers:

Amjad Ali, Mazhar Abbas (NBP), Imran Butt, Ali Haider (PIA), Yasir, Waleed Akhtar (Bannu), Hafiz Umair Ali (SNGPL).

Defenders:

Asad Aziz, Sultan Amir (Navy), Mohammad Aleem Bilal (Wapda), Mohammad Irfan (PIA), Nawaz Ishfaq, Syed Kashif Shah (SSGC), Shah Faisal Shah (SNGPL), Abid Bhatti (NBP).

Halves:

Qazi Asfand, Tasawar Abbas, Fareed Ahmed (Wapda), Rashid Mahmood (Navy), Faisal Qadir, Tousiq Arshad, Mohammad Rizwan Jr, Kashif Javed (NBP), Taimoor Malik (PIA), Tanzeem-ul-Hassan (Railways).

Forwards:

Mohammad Irfan Jr (Wapda), Fayyaz Yaqoob (Sargodha), Karim Khan (PTV), Mohammad Umar Bhutta, Ijaz Ahmed, Mohammad Salman Hussain, Rana Mohammad Umair, Saran bin Qamar (Wapda), Ali Shan, Rizwan Ali (SSGC), Mohammad Rizwan Sr (Army), Mohammad Arslan Qadir (NBP), Awais-ur-Rehman, Mohammad Zubair (PIA), Abdul Haseem Khan (Karachi).

Published in Dawn, August 21st, 2016