CANNOCK, June 5: Pakistan start their European tour when they clash Australia in the opening match of tri-nation hockey tournament on Sunday.

The national team is here to prepare for Athens Olympics which begins in Athens from Aug 13. The match starts at Cannock Hockey and Cricket Club Astroturf at 7.00pm Pakistan Standard Time.

Besides Pakistan and Australia, hosts Great Britain are featuring in the week-long competition to be played on double league basis.

The Australian team which arrived here a week ago, beat Great Britain 3-1 in the one-off Test at Slough.

The first phase will be played in Cannock and the tournament will shift to Highfields Hockey Centre in Nottingham.

Pakistan will have their first outing since Madrid's Olympic qualifiers in March.

The greenshirts will also play two Test matches against Germany before participating in Hamburg Masters which will be followed by four-nation Rabobank Trophy in Amstelveen.

Pakistan, after training for eight days in hot Karachi weather, will enjoy Britain's climate where temperature is below 20 degree Celsius.

Pakistan will be without their experienced half-back Mohammad Saqlain, who was axed on disciplinary grounds on the eve of team's departure.

Besides senior players, Pakistan's Dutch coach Roelant Oltmans has picked four junior players including Shakeel Abbasi, Mohammad Imran, Imran Khan and Tariq Aziz.

Their inclusion will help Dutch coach in finalizing the 16- member Pakistan squad for the Olympic Games.

Pakistan: Ahmad Alam, Salman Akbar (goalkeepers), Sohail Abbas, Ali Raza, Ghazanfar Ali, Mohammad Imran (full-backs), Waseem Ahmad, Imran Khan, Dilawar Hussain, Adnan Maqsood, Mohammad Sarwar, Shabbir Hussain, Rehan Butt, Mohammad Nadeem (Captain), Tariq Aziz, Shakeel Abbasi, Kashif Jawwad (Forwards).