ISLAMABAD, May 8 The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) on Friday short listed 20 players for the Junior Hockey World Cup.

“We have selected 19 top performers for the second round of the training camp and the final squad will be announced on May 22,” chief selector Hasan Sardar told the media while announcing the names of the players.

“The second phase of the trials will start in Lahore from May 19.

The Junior World Cup, to be held next month, will be co-hosted by Malaysia and Singapore and is slated to be held between June 7 and 21.

Pakistan is placed in Group 'A' in the event along with Argentina, Russia, Egypt and Belgium. They play their first match against Russia on June 7.

According to Hasan, six junior players — Shafqat Rasool, Haseem Khan, Fareed Ahmed, Waqas Sharif, Abbas Haider and Mohammad Irfan — were currently attached with the senior team to play in the Asia Cup that commences on Saturday.

But the former Olympian said about those players “The six will join the training camp after conclusion of the Asia Cup.”

Hasan accepted that they were facing difficulties in finding new talent.“Unfortunately the stuff is not there but the federation is consistently working on grooming young talent and setting hockey academies as a part of its junior development programme,” he said.

Meanwhile, chief coach Khawaja Junaid added “We will play two warm-up matches in Malaysia, days before the start of the tournament.

“Our focus is to win and to put up a strong show in the upcoming event,” he concluded.

Probables

Goal Keepers Imran Butt, Imran Shah.

Fullbacks Amir Shehzad, Kashif Ali, Wasif Sddiqui, Khalid Bhatti, Mohammad Attique, Usman Tariq.

Halfbacks Mohsin Bilal, Sibain Raza, Zeeshan Ali, Zeeshan Ahmed, Mohammad Rashid.

Forwards Mohammad Toufeeq, Umar Bhutta, Hasan Akhtar, Inayatullah, Mohammad Zubair, Azlan Khan, Mohammad Rizwan.