KARACHI: Hockey coach Hanif Khan is of the view that young players’ exposure in the upcoming Sultan Azlan Shah Cup will help in preparing back-up line for future.

“It provides us an opportunity to see how these boys fare in an international level competition,” he said prior to team’s departure on Tuesday for Malaysia.

Six nations will be featuring in the event being held from March 9 to 17 with Pakistan taking on New Zealand in the opening match. Australia, India, South Korea and hosts Malaysia are the other teams taking part in the nine-day competition.

Veteran players Waseem Ahmed, Shakeel Abbasi, Rizwan Ahmed and Rashid Mahmood are rested.

“We wanted to test new boys by giving rest to some senior players,” said Hanif, adding that they have prepared Mohammad Irfan as their penalty-corner striker.

“Let’s see how he performs in Ipoh with Mohammad Atiq,” the coach remarked.

It is pertinent to mention that the young lot includes Imran Junior, Mohammad Suleman and Irfan Junior.—APP