LAHORE, Feb 21: Pakistan hockey coach Shahid Ali Khan expressed hope that four senior players Sohail Abbas, Waseem Ahmad, Rehan Butt and Salman Akbar might be available for the national training camp from its second phase, starting from March 10.

Talking to reporters at the National Hockey Stadium where the first phase of the camp for back-to-back international tournaments, the Azlan Shah Cup and Asia Cup started on Saturday, the former goalkeeper said all the four seniors players had their commitment with foreign leagues.

But Shahid said he was hopeful they all would report to camp in the second phase.

The coach said in the first phase, he would emphasis to improve the physical fitness of the players and to test their abilities for a specific position of the game.

Shahid said the first phase would on March 3 and the players would again gather from March 10 to start the second one.

Shahid said though he was joining the PHF after a lapse of three years, talented boys were attending the camp and after imparting them modern training a best winning combination would be prepared for the two assignments. He said except four seniors, all 36 players had reported to the camp.

The selected team is to take part in the Azlan Shah Cup to be held in Malaysia from April 3 to 12 and Asia Cup scheduled for May 8 to 15.

Shahid was given the charge after Ayaz Mahmood failed to get himself relieved from his parent department PIA as station manager Moscow to Pakistan.

Probables:

Goalkeepers: Nasir Ahmad (PIA), Sajid (Railways), Waseem (Steel Mills), Muhammad Iqbal (Navy).

Full-backs: Zeeshan Ashraf (NBP), Muhammad Imran (Army), Ehsan Ullah (PIA), Muhammad Kamran (Steel Mills), Rao Shahid (Army), Qaiser Raza (Wapda), Adnan Javed (PIA).

Halves: Rana Asif (Wapda ), Dilawar Hussain (PIA), Muhammad Saqlain (ABL), Zeeshan Ali (KESC), Waqas Zafar (Army), Sibtain Raza (NBP), Khurram Shahzad (HBL).

Forwards: Ali Baig (Police), Noman (NWFP), Kashif Ali (Railways), Shakeel Abbasi (SSGC), Waqas Sharif (Wapda), Waqas Akbar (PIA), Arshad (Army), Rana Javed (Wapda), Akhtar ALI (NBP), Sajid Junaid (KESC), Muhammad Amin (Quetta), Shabir Khan (SSGC), Asim Khan, Tariq Aziz, Sajjad Anwar, Saeed Shah, Imtiaz Panu and Ibrar Haider.