LAHORE, Mar 24: Pakistan junior hockey team left on Thursday for Malaysia to take part in the 6-nation hockey tournament being played from March 27 to April 3, with head coach Tahir Zaman hoping that three key players will recover before the start of the event.

“It is a sign of worry that our three key players including captain Shakeel Abbasi, Muhammad Khalid and Adnan Zakir are on injury list and they are still not fit,” he said before the departure of the team.

Abbasi is nursing an ankle injury, Khalid suffering from a groin injury and Adnan Zakir troubled by a muscular feet injury.

“We will not risk playing half fit players in the tournament but hopefully they be fit before we start the matches,” he said.

He said Abbasi’s chances for playing are 60-40 while Khalid and Zakir have 50-50 chances for appearing in the tournament.

“No doubt it is a big worry for us but we cannot rush to include them in the playing side because any such act can prolong their injuries which can hamper our planning for preparing the team for the junior World Cup. That is our ultimate objective,” said the former olympian and captain of Pakistan.

Tahir said the team was going through preparatory phase for the up and he cannot predict its chances in the tournament but he was optimistic that it would come up to the expectations.

“We have yet to play top teams of the world and in this tournament we will be having the chance to play some of them and the rest we will be playing in the European tour.

“I believe we will be having enough international exposure to prepare our team for the World Cup,” he said.

Tahir termed the 6-nation tournament a challenge for the team and said England, Germany, India, South Korea and hosts Malaysia would be tough rivals.

“All the teams are preparing for the all-important World Cup and taking any of them lightly will be a silly mistake,” he said adding “we are focusing on overcoming mistakes and to improve the performance and this event will serve that objective,” he added.

Squad: Nasir Ahmad, Muhammad Iqbal, Muhammad Imran, Imran Warsi, Muhammad Ikhlaq, Imran Khan, Muhammad Khalid, Aasim Khan, Sajjad Anwar, Rana Asif, Adnan Zakir, Kashif Yaqoob, Shakeel Abbasi, Tariq Aziz, Muhammad Akhtar, Yasir Islam, Muhammad Arif, Muhammad Ishtiaq.

Following is the programme of matches.

March 27: England vs Germany, India vs Korea, Pakistan vs Malaysia.

March 28: Germany vs India, Korea vs Pakistan, England vs Malaysia.

March 29: REST DAY

March 30: Malaysai vs Germany, Pakistan vs India,England vs Korea.

March 31: Germany vs Pakistan, Korea vs Malaysia, India vs England.

April 1: REST DAY

April 2: Pakistan vs England, Germany vs Korea,India vs Malaysia.

April 3: 5th and 6th match, 3rd and 4th place match and the final.—APP