KARACHI, July 1: Pakistan hockey skipper Ahmed Alam said on Tuesday that he sees a bright future for the national junior squad goalkeepers whom he termed as both talented and hard working.

Ahmed, presently the most experienced goalkeeper in Pakistan, said that he was misquoted by a section of the press which claimed that he had criticised the goalies presently attending the national training camp here at the Pakistan Steel Hockey Ground.

The Karachi based Ahmed was quoted as saying that the four national junior camp goalkeepers were not very reliable.

But Ahmed denied that he ever rejected the young goalies as useless saying that he had said that with some more experience they can be an asset for Pakistan hockey.

The national junior training camp has four goalkeepers. Shakir Munir (PTCL), Adeel Anwar (Pakistan Railways), M. Iqbal (PTCL) and Rizwan Ahmed (Pakistan Army) are the four goalies among the 40 odd probables in the camp.

Ahmed pointed out that he spent some time with the four goalkeepers last week and was impressed with their talents.

Meanwhile, Pakistan hockey team manager Col (retd) Abdur Rauf said that the national junior camp includes the best available young talent and added that he was confident that Pakistan will come out with a very strong youth outfit within the next few months.

Rauf said that he and fellow officials have short listed the best possible players for the camp that is under progress in preperation for a training tour of Europe scheduled to take place during July-August.

A total of 43 players are presently attending the training camp at the Pakistan Steel Hockey ground.

The players will appear in two-day trials to be held on July 5 and 6. General Aziz Khan, President Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF), will announce the team on July 6.—PPI