LAHORE, June 15: Former captain/goalkeeper Ahmad Alam with centre-forward Kamran Ashraf made a comeback to the Pakistan hockey team after a long absence.
An 18-member Pakistan team was announced Saturday for the forthcoming tour of Spain (July 12-20) and the Manchester’s Commonwealth Games (July 25-Aug 4) Saturday.
The team was announced after holding one-day trials at the National Hockey Stadium (NHS). The chief selector, the federal sports minister S. K Tressler and a selector Rasheed Junior were not present to watch the trials.
Ahmad had opted to resign from the international hockey after Pakistan lost the Azlan Shah tournament under his captaincy in Malaysia, last year. Later, Ahmad withdrew his decision which prompted the PHF to call him back for the camp. He finally got the selector’s nod. Ahmad’s inclusion means that Salman Akbar will be not taken in the squad.
Kamran played last time for the Pakistan team in the Prime Minister Gold Cup in Bangladesh last year in which Pakistan lost the final to India.
“Kamran impressed the team management during the camp training. He also showed good attitude, therefore, the spearhead got the place in the team”, the Pakistan Hockey Federation secretary Brig. Mussaratullah told journalists while announcing the team.
Raza and goalkeeper Salman, however, retained in the list of eight stand-byes.
Outside-right Rehan Butt is also new entry in the team.
The manager of the team Lt. Col. (retd) Zafar Ali Khan said that the team was balanced and he would not hesitate to take the responsibility of its failure in both the competitions.
The team:
GOALKEEPERS: Ahmad Alam, Mohammad Qasim.
FULL-BACKS: Sohail Abbas, Tariq Imran,Zeeshan Ashraf.
HALVES-BACKS: Muhammad Usman, Muhammad Saqlain, Waseem Ahmed, Ghazanfar Ali, Dilawar Husain.
FORWARDS: Muhammad Sarwar (captain), Muhammad Nadeem (vice- captain), Mudassar Ali Khan, Kashif Jawad, Khalid Saleem, Shabbir, Kamran Ashraf, Rehan Butt.
STAND-BYES: Goalkeeper: Salman akbar. Ali Raza,Aamir Saleem, Nadeem Iqbal, Imran Rasool, Shahid Rabbani, Muhammad Aqeel, Javed Iqbal.