LAHORE, Sept 10: Olympian Umar Bhutta was named captain as Pakistan’s junior team was announced on Tuesday for the third Sultan of Johor Junior Invitational hockey tournament to be held in Johor Bahru, Malaysia from Sept 22 to 29.

The 18-member squad was announced by the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) during a training camp currently being supervised by head coach Rana Mujahid Ali here at the National Hockey Stadium. The camp will conclude on Sept 18, a day before the squad leave for Malaysia.

The Johor Bahru event will be the second last assignment for Pakistan junior team before they feature in the World Cup to be hosted by India in December this year. Before the World Cup, a tournament will also be staged in India for which the PHF has already confirmed its team’s participation.

Meanwhile, Mujahid said five players of the senior team were also part of the Johor Bahru-bound junior side. Interestingly, senior pros Umar Bhutta, Rizwan Junior, Syed Kashif Shah, Khalid Bhatti and Mohammad Tousiq are part of the junior team named for the Malaysia event.

The coach noted that India had also included eight senior players in their squad for the junior competition and similarly, South Korea had also selected a blend of youth and experience for the Johor Bahru contest.

“The Johor Bahru tournament is an ideal chance for us to examine the real strength of our players before going to India for the World Cup,” Mujahid said.

“In Malaysia, our team will also face England and Argentina for the first time which will give them experience to test their muscles against these non-Asian teams,” Mujahid underlined.

Squad:

Mazhar Abbas, Amin Yousuf, Mohammad Khalid, Mohammad Umar Bhutta (captain), Syed Kashif Shah (vice-captain), Mohammad Faisal Qadir, Mohammad Rizwan Jr, Mohammad Tousiq, Mohammad Kashif Javed, Ammad Shakeel Butt, Zohaib Ashraf, Muhammad Umair, Mohammad Dilber, Ali Shan, Mohammad Suleman, Arslan Qadir, Ahmed Zubair, Ayub Ali.

Officials: Rana Mujahid Ali (head coach), Mohammad Danish Kaleem, Anjum Saeed (coaches), Mubashir Mohsin (doctor), Syed Abuzar Umrao (video analyst).