LAHORE: Majority of the 32 players called for a three-day fitness test organised by the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) in Lahore have failed to meet the set physical fitness standards, according to the report submitted by a fitness panel that conducted the tests from July 27 to 29.

“The players have to work very hard to bring improvement in their fitness level which is far below the international standard, set by the PHF,” said the report which was submitted by the three-member panel to PHF secretary Asif Bajwa on Friday.

Chief selector Olympian Manzoor Junior, head coach Khawaja Junaid and trainer Abid Amin supervised the tests on the basis of which 20 players will receive the PHF central contract.

And to keep their names on the central contracts list, the players will have to pass a monthly fitness test.

Meanwhile, a member of the fitness panel told Dawn that as the players had not been in action due to Covid-19, at home they were not paying due attention to their fitness at home, which he termed disappointing.

“Keeping in view the Covid-19 situation, the PHF considered the plan to award the central contracts to 20 players to set an incentive for them,” the member said. “Hopefully, now the players will show more interest in improving their fitness level to get the top category of the central contract, which is ‘A’ offering a player Rs50,000 per month.”

The PHF will announce the names of the central contracts players on Aug 2 in three different categories — ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’.

Published in Dawn, July 31st, 2021