LAHORE: As many as 11 senior players, including captain Mohammad Rizwan Senior who featured in Pakistan’s miserable campaign at last year’s World Cup, were axed on Saturday by the selection committee which announced a new-look 18-member squad for the FIH Pro Hockey League.

Pakistan open their Pro League campaign with back-to-back matches against Argentina on Feb 2 and 3 in the central Argentinian city of Cordoba.

The inaugural League featuring nine countries — Belgium, Australia, Netherlands, Argentina, Germany, England, New Zealand, Spain and Pakistan — also serves as a qualifier for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics with the four best teams qualifying for the Olympic qualification matches to be staged during 2020.

Those who failed to retain their places in the team include Mazhar Abbas, Irfan Senior, Mohammad Tauseeq Arshad, Rashid Mahmood, Ajaz Ahmed, Ammad Shakeel Butt, Irfan Junior, Rizwan Senior, Tasawwar Abbas, Umar Bhutta and Mohammad Zubair. Goalkeeper Imran Butt had already announced retirement after the 2018 World Cup.

Six new players named in 18-member squad

Announcing the squad after the two-day trials which concluded here at the National Hockey Stadium on Saturday, national chief selector Islahuddin Siddiqui said 12 changes had been made to raise a new Pakistan team.

The former Olympian, however, praised the services of the axed senior players.

“They did their best and worked hard for the team. [But] now we are trying to raise a strong team for future and [therefore] we have inducted a number of young players into the national squad,” Islahuddin said.

The 25-year-old Ali Shan has been named as new captain in place of Rizwan who played 156 games for Pakistan.

Ali, born in Kasur, has so far represented the country in 135 international matches.

Pakistan failed to end the decades-long victory drought in leading world hockey competitions when they finished a pathetic 11th at the 16-nation 2018 World Cup staged in Bhubaneswar, India during November-December.

Significant changes in the team were expected after former Olympian Hasan Sardar, the manager of the 2018 World Cup squad, in his report had held the senior players responsible for the green-shirts’ miserable show in the mega event.

The new faces named in the national outfit include Waqar Ahmed, Amjad Ali (both goalkeepers), Rizwan Ali, Amjad Ali Khan, Moin Shakeel, Azfar Yaqoob while Aleem Bilal, Mubashar Ali, Ali Shan, Faisal Qadir, Abu Bakr Mahmood and Atiq Arshad were retained in the squad.

The cash-strapped PHF, in order to reduce expenses, has decided not to take any video analyst and physio with the team to Argentina.

From Argentina, the national team is scheduled to go to Australia and then to New Zealand to play the Pro League matches. The squad will leaves for Argentina on Jan 27.

Besides the 18 players, eight standbys have also been announced.

Squad:

Waqar Ahmed, Amjad Ali (goalkeepers), Aleem Bilal, Mubashar Ali, Rizwan Ali, Amjad Ali Khan, Abu Bakar Mahmood, Moin Shakeel, Azfar Yaqoob, Ali Shan (captain), Faisal Qadir, Atif Mushtaq, Atiq Arshad, Rana Waheed, Junaid Manzoor, Ghazanfar Ali, Ali Aziz, Shan Irshad

Standbys: Salman Razzaq, Adeel Lateef, Rana Sohail, Mohammad Qamar, Akmal Hussain, Taimour Malik, Samiullah, Emmaduddin.

Officials: Saeed Khan (head coach-cum-manager); Danish Kaleem, Rehan Butt (coaches)

Published in Dawn, January 20th, 2019