LAHORE: The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF), for the first time, has decided to conduct open trials to be supervised by the national selection committee in all the four provinces to select the respective teams for the forthcoming national championships in Sukhur starting from Dec 15.

It is the first time that the PHF is conducting the trials of its affiliated provincial bodies through its own selectors. In the past, every provincial hockey association had to pick up its team through their own selectors. The decision also shows that OHF has little confidence on the abilities of the provincial bodies in picking up the teams.

The PHF has also issued the schedule of the trials, according to which the trials for Sindh will be held on Nov 25 and 26 at Abdul Sattar Edhi Hockey Stadium, for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Nov 29 and 30 in Mardan, for Punjab on Dec 3 and 4 at Lahore’s Johar Town Hockey Stadium and for Balochistan at Quetta’s General Musa Hockey Stadium on Dec 8.

The national selection committee headed by former great Olympian Hasan Sardar will select the players. However, the provincial hockey associations are allowed to appoint the team’s officials i.e manager, coach for their teams.

Published in Dawn, November 25th, 2017