ISLAMABAD: Imad Shakeel Butt will lead Pakistan in the forthcoming Olympic qualifier in Oman as the national selection committee on Tuesday announced an 18-member national squad for the important event.

Defender Abu Bakr Mahmood was named vice-captain of the squad for the Jan 15-21 event featuring teams from eight countries.

Head coach Olympian Shahnaz Sheikh sounded optimistic about Pakistan qualifying for the Olympics.

Speaking to Dawn following the announcement of the team, the head coach said that the squad looked very balanced and was a mixture of junior and senior players.

“We have 10 players who played the Junior World Cup while the selection committee [also] picked eight senior players,” Shahnaz said, adding that all the players had been given best training during the national camp.

“We hope that we will not only qualify for the Olympics but will also win this qualifying round [in Oman] as well.”

The participating teams in the Oman event are divided into two groups. Pakistan are placed in pool ‘A’ alongside England, Malaysia and China while pool ‘B’ comprises Germany, New Zealand, Canada and Chile.

“After witnessing the performance of my players during the camp, let me say that we can beat these teams [in Oman],” the head coach said and added that both Imad and and Abu Bakr were experienced campaigners who would help Pakistan achieve the target.

It is relevant to note here that Pakistan holds a golden history in world hockey legacy with three Olympic titles, four World Cups, three Asia Cup titles, eight Asian Games crowns besides several other honours.

Amid an unprecedented and alarming decline faced by Pakistan in the past two decades, however, the country unfortunately could not even qualify for the last two editions of Olympics (Rio de Janeiro 2016 and Tokyo 2020).

Meanwhile, the PHF on Tuesday stated that following recommendations of the national selection committee headed by Kaleemullah Khan after getting the approval of PHF president Tariq Hussain Bugti announced the squad for the Oman event after the trials.

Squad: Abdullah Ishtiaq, Waqar, Arbaz Ahmed, Mohammad Abdullah, Sufiyan Khan, Imad Shakeel Butt (captain), Abu Bakr Mahmood (vice-captain), Murtaza Yaqoob, Abdul Mannan, Aqeel Ahmed, Moeen Shakil, Salman Razaq, Abdul Hannan Shahid, Ghazanfar Ali, Abdul Rahman Jr, Zikriya Hayat, Rana Abdul Waheed Ashraf, Arshad Liaquat.

Team management: Shahnaz Sheikh (head coach), Shakeel Abbasi (coach), Dilawar Hussain (assistant coach), Amjad Ali (goalkeeping coach), Waqas Mahmood (physio), Mohammad Imran Khan (physical trainer).

Published in Dawn, January 3rd, 2024