ISLAMABAD: The trials to select Pakistan’s national team for the FIH Olympic qualifiers will be held on Friday here at National Hockey Stadium, chairman of the selection committee Manzoor Junior said on Wednesday.

“Our camp to prepare for these [Olympic] qualifiers is underway at the National Hockey Stadium. We’ve also recalled some senior players and will be trying our best to announce a strong team,” Manzoor told APP.

World No. 17 Pakistan will face a strong challenge from the Netherlands, ranked No.3, in a two-match tie to claim a spot in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

“We know we have to defeat a tough side to make it to the coveted event. They [Netherlands] have been preparing for these qualifiers for the last four years, whereas our team did not feature in any international event during the past 18 months. However, we’ll be trying to select the best [players] for these qualifiers,” the chief selector said.

“We’ll also announce our team for the qualifiers later on the same day [Friday],” added Manzoor, the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games gold medal-winning captain.

He said the Pakistan squad would leave for Germany on July 19 to play two friendly matches against the team of that country. “They will be playing against Germany on Oct 21 and 23 and after that they would proceed to the Netherlands to play back-to-back qualifiers on Oct 26 and 27,” he stated.

Manzoor said the PHF had arranged the Germany tour to provide exposure to players ahead of the qualifiers.

He said he knew beating the Netherlands would be a daunting task for Pakistan but added that the players would be asked to fight like a cohesive unit. “I believe we have the players who are capable of producing the results. My advice to them will be to focus on their game plan and fight till the end.”

The winners of the FIH Olympic qualifiers will make it to the 2020 Olympics. Twelve men’s teams and as many women’s teams will feature in the prestigious quadrennial sports event.

Among men’s teams Japan Argentina, South Africa, Belgium and Australia have already qualified for the Olympics. While women teams of Japan, Argentina, South Africa, Netherlands and New Zealand have claimed spots for the event.

Published in Dawn, October 10th, 2019