LAHORE: Showing full control over the final selection, Pakistan head coach Roelant Oltmans made six changes in the squad from the Commonwealth Games to announce the 18-member team for the upcoming Champions Trophy Men’s hockey tournament to be held in Breda, Netherlands from June 23 to July 1.

Chief selector Olympian Islah-ud-Din Siddiqi recommended the names of 22 players for the training camp which has been in progress in Netherlands for the last couple of weeks. But Oltmans reduced the list to 18 after watching the performance of the players in the training camp.

Sources said Oltmans was not happy with the 18-member team announced by Islah for the Games held in Gold Coast, Australia in April this year and the Dutchman had already informed the Pakistan Hockey Federation that in future he would pick the 18-member team. Currently, Islah is in the US and therefore, has no link with the ongoing training camp in Breda.

Oltmans preferred to call back seniors players to oust a good number of juniors. And among them is half-back Rashid Mahmood, forwards Umar Bhutta and Aijaz Ahmed, midfielder Azfar Yaqoob, defender Aleem Bilal and goalkeeper Amjad Ali. Goalkeeper Mazhar Abbas, Tazeem-ul-Hasan, Mohammad Arshad, Faisal Qadir, Dilber, and Rana Sohail faced the axe.

Unde Oltmans, the national team showed some improved performances as it remained unbeaten in the Commonwealth Games after playing three drawn matches against Wales (1-1), India (2-2) and England (2-2). The performance gave the head coach a powerful position as far as the selection affairs are concerned.

Pakistan’s performance in Gold Coast was also an improvement to their high-scoring defeats, especially at the hands of India in the previous tournaments.

However, the Champions Trophy, which is the last one in its 40-year-history, will be Oltman’s first test as Pakistan coach and that too in his home country.

Meanwhile, Rizwan Senior has been retained as captain, who is junior to Rashid Mahmood, Irfan Senior and Umar Bhutta.

Pakistan squad:

M.Rizwan Sr (captain), Imran Butt, Amjad Ali, M.Irfan Sr, Mubashir Ali, Aleem Bilal, Ammad Shakeel Butt, Touseeq Arshad, Rashid Mahmood, Tasawar Abbas, Abu Bakar, M.Irfan Jr, Arslan Qadir, Umar Bhutta, Shafqat Rasool, Ali Shan, Azfar Yaqoob, Aijaz Ahmed.

Manager: Hasan Sardar, Head Coach: Roelant Oeltmans, Assistant Coaches: M.Saqlain and Rehan Butt.

Published in Dawn, June 20th, 2018