KARACHI, Sept 12: Shakeel Abbasi has been named to lead a new look 18-member Pakistan squad in the four-nation Hamburg Masters hockey tournament being held in Germany from Oct 3 to 5.
The squad was announced on Friday by the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) President Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali after watching one-day trials with secretary Asif Bajwa and chief coach Jahangir Butt.
Pakistan vice-captain and fullback Mohammad Imran did not feature in the trials but retained his place in the squad.
“Like the whole nation, we are highly disappointed by the result in the Beijing Olympics but this is part and parcel of the game,” Jamali said.
Seven players from the Beijing Olympics team also took part in the trials. They were goalkeeper Nasir Ahmed, forwards Shakeel Abbasi, Shafqat Rasool, Mohammad Zubair, Waqas Sharif and halfback Rana Asif.
Several senior players like skipper Zeeshan Ashraf, Mohammad Saqlain were not invited in the camp while Rehan Butt and Salman Akbar left to play in Dutch League and Waqas Akbar and Abbas Haider left to play in French League.
Squad:
Goalkeepers: Nasir Ahmed, Imran Shah.
Fullbacks: Mohammad Imran (vice-captain), Kashif Ali, Mohammad Ateeq.
Halfbacks: Rana Asif, M. Irfan, Fareed Ahmed, Zaheer Ahmed, Aamir Shehzad.
Forwards: M. Waqas Sharif, Shafqat Rasool, Shakeel Abbasi (captain), Akhtar Ali, Abdul Haseem Khan, M. Taufeeq, Inayatullah, Mohammad Zubair.
Officials: Jahangir Butt (chief coach/manager); Kamran Ashraf, Danish Kaleem (coaches); Faiz-ur-Rehman (Physio); Nadeem Lodhi (video analyst).—APP
