LAHORE: While former Pakistan captain Mansoor Ahmed has been appointed as manager of the national junior probables’ training camp, three other ex-skippers are inducted in the coaches panel.

Joining the former goalkeeper are Mohammad Usman, Rehan Butt and Mohammad Saqlain on the four-man coaching panel.

Trials to select the probables will be conducted in Mardan, Lahore and Karachi simultaneously on July 27 and 28. Separate selection panel has also been announced for each centre, the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) said on Tuesday.

Players born on or after Jan 1, 1998 are eligible to appear in the open trials, a PHF press release states.

The new set up of the manager and coaches is not announced with any specific assignment ahead.

“Our under-18 players have already been in Australia on a six-month long training tour for the last three months. The PHF wants to raise another junior team, so, this new management is announced with no specific assignment decided for it at yet,” PHF secretary Shahbaz Ahmed told Dawn. “There is no head coach and all three coaches are included in a panel of coaches, having equal status.”

The PHF has to raise a squad for the next Junior World Cup, which is to be held in 2020. Last time all investment on junior team was wasted since Pakistan failed to compete at the competition held in India.

According to the schedule, the players belonging to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Islamabad are to appear in the Mardan trials. A three-member selection panel comprising Imtiaz Afridi, Imran Khan, Ehsanullah and Shaukat Ali will pick the best probables for the camp.

It seems the PHF has settled the issue with Olympian goalkeeper Imran Butt before inducting him in the panel of selection for Lahore.

At the Johar Town’ Stadium in Lahore, Imran along with Tahir Zaman and Maqsood Hussain will select the trainees.

It may be mentioned here that goalkeeper Imran was accused by former head coach Khawaja Junaid that he deliberately conceded goals during the last year’s Azlan Shah Cup.

But now the PHF, which has sacked Junaid as head coach after a spate of national team’s dismal performance in the World League Hockey League, called up Imran as a selector.

Meanwhile, the players from Sindh and Balochistan will be selected by the panel of Qamar Ibrahim, Mohammad Ali and Mohammad Anees for the trials to be conducted in Karachi.

Published in Dawn, July 26th, 2017