KARACHI, Dec 14: Pakistan’s goalkeeper Salman Akber and Shakeel Abbasi have been nominated by the International Hockey Federation (FIH) for the 2005 World Hockey Men’s Player-of-the-Year awards. Salman was nominated for the Men’s Player-of-the-Year award while Shakeel Abbasi will be vying for Young Player-of-the-Year.

Nominations were decided by a survey of international coaches, with player of the tournament voting and performances at events in 2005 also taken into consideration.

The award winners will be determined by a ballot of players and coaches from the six competing teams at the Sahara Hockey Champions Trophy, currently being held in Chennai, India.

The awards will be presented in Chennai on Saturday.

The nominations are as follows:

2005 World Hockey Men’s Player-of-the-Year 1. Salman Akbar (PAKISTAN) 2. Pol Amat (SPAIN) 3. Teun de Nooijer (NEDERLANDS) 4. Jeroen Delmee (NEDERLANDS) 5. Jamie Dwyer (AUSTRALIA) 6. Santi Freixa (SPAIN) 7. Brent Livermore (AUSTRALIA) 8. German Orozco (ARGENTINA) 9. V S Vinaya (INDIA) 10. Christopher Zeller (GERMANY)

2005 World Hockey Men’s Young Player of the Year (U-23 age limit, as of 1 Jan 2005) 1. Shakeel Abbasi (PAKISTAN) 2. Robert van der Horst (NEDERLANDS) 3. Mark Knowles (AUSTRALIA) 4. Sandeep Singh (INDIA) 5. Lucas Villa (ARGENTINA).—Agencies