LAHORE: The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) on Saturday announced a 16-member squad for the four-nation International Festival of Hockey being held in Melbourne from Nov 8 to 12.

Pakistan along with hosts Australia, New Zealand and Japan will vie for the title.

Mohammad Irfan Senior has been retained as captain and Umar Bhutta as his deputy.

Five new players have been selected in the squad for the first time. They are Khizer Akhtar (Tando Jam, District Hyderabad), Shajeeh Ahmed (Sargodha), Hassan Anwar (Faisalabad), Hassan Anwar (Pir Mahal, District Toba Tek Singh) and Shan Irshad (Sheikhupura).

Seven players, who were part of the 18-member national squad which competed in the recently-held Asia Cup in Dhaka, have been dropped. They include Azfar Yaqoob, Ali Shan, Waqas Akbar, Rizwan Senior, Rashid Mahmood, goalkeeper Mazhar Abbas and Mubashar Ali.

Squad:

Amjad Ali (goalkeeper), Mohammad Irfan (captain), Abu Bakr Mahmood, Atif Mushtaq, Hassan Anwar, Ammad Shakeel Butt, Tasawwar Abbas, Mohammad Rizwan Jr, Arslan Qadir, Shajeeh Ahmed, Shan Irshad, Umar Bhutta (vice-captain), Atiq Arshad, Ajaz Ahmed, Bilal Qadir, Khizer Akhtar.

Officials:

Farhat Khan (manager/head coach); Malik Shafqat, Mohammad Sarwar (coaches); Dr Atif Bashir (team doctor); Abuzar Umrao (video analyst).

Published in Dawn, November 5th, 2017