KARACHI: A national hockey training camp in preparation for the next month’s Commonwealth Games has commenced at the Abdul Sattar Edhi Hockey Stadium. Thirty players out of the 32 probables invited by the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) reported on the opening day. The Commonwealth Games will be held at Gold Coast, Australia, from April 5 to 14. Newly hired Dutch coach Roelant Oltmans is due to arrive here on March 06 to take up his new assignment. Chief selector Islahuddin Siddiqui said on Friday that two-day trials to select a team for the upcoming event would be held on March 11 and 12. Islahuddin was in a fix when informed that the PHF had already sent 18 names to the organisers after the initial deadline of submission of names expired. According to draws, the 13th ranked Pakistan are placed in pool B along with India, England, Malaysia and Wales. The pool A comprises Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa and Scotland. Pakistan plays their first match against Wales on April 5. The India-Pakistan clash takes place on April 7. Pakistan’s third match will be against England on April 8 while the greenshirts face Malaysia in last pool match on April 11. The classification matches and semi-finals are slated for April 13 while curtain falls on the event the following day when playoffs for the 3rd-4th positions and final take place. Published in Daily Times, March 3rd 2018.