Hockey squads for Asian Champions Trophy, Sultan of Johor Cup announced

LAHORE: Pakistan senior and junior squads were announced here on Tuesday for their respective assignments in Malaysia.

The announcement came after the three-match series between the national senior and junior teams ended on Monday with the former clinching it 2-0.

Defender Mohammad Irfan-led Pakistan seniors will compete in the Asian Champions Trophy as defending champions in Kuantan, Malaysia from Oct 20 to 30 while Mohammad Dilbar has been named as skipper of the junior team participating in the Sultan of Johor Cup scheduled to be held in the Malaysian city of Johor Bahru from Oct 31 to Nov 6.

Defender Ammad Shakeel Butt has been included in both the squads.

Earlier, the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) had planned to announce the senior squad after holding one-day trials on Oct 13 but the selection committee opted for conducting a three-match series between seniors and juniors to select players for both teams.

“Earlier, it was the plan to announce the team after one-day trials but later the national selection committee decided that performances of the senior team could be observed in a better way in a three-match series. So, it was decided to induct players into both senior and junior teams through the conduct of the three-match series,” head coach Khawaja Junaid told Dawn.

The former Olympian said his main target in the Champions Trophy would be obtaining maximum points to help the 13th-ranked Pakistan ascend in world rankings.

“Of course, while the main target is to defend the title successfully, it is also my aim to obtain maximum points during this ranking tournament to improve Pakistan’s position in world rankings,” maintained Junaid.

A good number of eight new players having experience of just 15 or so international matches each were inducted into the team, he further said, adding they intended to get maximum number of matches against European teams after the tour of Malaysia.

“As no team is ready to tour Pakistan our boys get very less number of international matches but after the tour of Malaysia we are planning to provide our players with maximum number of matches against European teams,” remarked the former Olympian.

Commenting on the unimpressive results his team earned against juniors in the three-match series, Junaid said he was least bothered in this regard as juniors had been winning against the seniors in the past.

However, he laid emphasis on the fact that both teams should play 15 to 20 matches against each other every year to get more exposure.

On his part, junior team head coach Tahir Zaman endorsed Junaid’s stance while stating both teams should play at least 20 matches every year, adding: “Playing good hockey against seniors had proved a real morale booster for juniors.”

“Winning gold in the Sultan of Johar Cup is, of course, at the back of my mind but considering the sorrow state of affairs in hockey in Pakistan I definitely will be happy to help my boys secure third position in the event,” head coach of the junior team maintained.

Australia, England, New Zealand, Pakistan and Malaysia are the other main teams competing in the event.

Answering a question, Tahir said he and his players had had all the focus on the Junior World Cup scheduled to be held in India from Dec 8 to 18, irrespective of the fact that the PHF was still awaiting a go-ahead from the federal government.

He said he had to prepare the team for the mega event since the world cup was a tournament of the FIH.

Senior squad:

Goalkeepers: Imran Butt and Amjad Ali.

Defenders: Aleem Bilal, Mohammad Irfan (captain), Ammad Shakeel Butt.

Halves: Rashid Mahmood, Tasawar Abbas, Nawaz Ashfaq, Fareed Ahmad, Toseeq Arshad, Mohammad Rizwan junior.

Forwards: Mohammad Irfan junior, Umar Bhutta, Arslan Qadir, Ali Shan, Ejaz Ahmad, Mohammad Rizwan senior, Abdul Haseem Khan.

Team officials:

Hanif Khan (manager) Khawaja Junaid (head coach), Ahmad Alam (assistant coach), Nadeem Lodhi (video analyst).

Junior squad (U-21):

Goalkeepers: Ali Raza, Talal Khalid.

Full-backs: Atif Mushtaq, Hassan Anwar, Mubasshir Ali.

Halves: Ammad Shakeel Butt, Abu Bakar Mahmood, Faizan, Junaid Kamal, Tazeem-ul-Hassan.