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KARACHI: A 23-member Pakistan squad will leave for Singapore late Tuesday night enroute to Bangkok to participate in the Asia Cup Under-18 Hockey Tournament from June 17 to 26.
Goalkeeper Mazhar Abbas is leading the team.
Rana Mujahid is the coach and is assisted by Anjum Saeed, Ahmed Alam and Danish Kaleem. Dr Asad Abbas is the physio.
Reigning champions Pakistan will take on Brunei in their opening match on June 19 and then meet Chinese Taipei on the 20th.
After a rest day, Pakistan will be up against Singapore on the 22nd followed by a clash with Kazakhstan on the 23rd in their last league game.
The semi-finals will be contested on the 25th while the final will be staged on the 26th.
Prior to his departure, chief coach Olympian Rana Mujahid said that his team was capable of retaining the title.
“Our youngsters are in good spirits and there should be no problem for them to reach the last-four stage,” he told newsmen.
‘‘Our strength lies in the forward line which possesses fine scoring skills,” he said and added the team got talented Mohammad Irfan,Arsalan Qadir, Asad Bashir, Ali Shan and Bilal Qadir in the forward line.
‘‘Our challenge starts in the semi-final against China and Korea,” underlined Rana Mujahid.
Squad: Mazhar Abbas, Waseem Abbas, Sultan Amir, Ali Hassan Mansoor, Mohammad Sohaib, Bilal Khan, Usman Tanveer, Mohammad Irfan, Zohaib Ashraf, Arsalan Qadir, Asad Bashir, Ali Shan, Bilal Qadir, Khurram Shahzad, Hafiz Rizwan Ali, Mohammad Suleman, Mohammad Sufian and Mohammad Umair.—APP
