LAHORE: An 18-member Pakistan hockey team for the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games was named on Tuesday after getting it formally approved from the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) president Khalid Sajjad Khokhar. The two-day trials conducted, by the PHF, concluded at the Abdul Sattar Hockey Stadium in Karachi on Monday, which were participated by 31 probables.
The team will be captained by Mohammad Rizwan Senior. Vice captain is Ammad Shakeel Butt. The selectors and the Dutch coach Roelant Oltmans tried different combinations during four sessions of 15 minutes each on the concluding day of the trials. The selection committee headed by former Olympian Islahuddin Siddiqui and comprising Ayaz Mahmood, Farhat Khan, Musaddig Hussain and Qasim Khan were in attendance.
The trials were followed by long deliberations between the selectors, Dutch coach and the team manager Hasan Sardar. The XXI Commonwealth Games runs in the Australian city of Gold Coast from April 4-15.
Following are the members of the team: Imran Butt, Mazhar Abbas, M Irfan Senior, Tazeemul Hassan, Mubashar Ali, Faisal Qadir, Ammad Shakeel Butt (Vice Captain), Tauseeq Arshad, Tasawwar Abbas, Abubakr Mahmood, M Irfan Junior, Shafqat Rasool, Dilber, Ateeq Arshad, Ali Shan, Arslan Qadir, Mohammad Rizwan Senior (captain) and Rana Sohail.
Published in Daily Times, March 14th 2018.