Daily Times

KARACHI: The trio comprising Tazeemul-Hasan, Faisal Qadir and Ateeq Arshad were shown the door as the selectors on Thursday announced an extended 22-member Pakistan hockey squad for the 37th Champions Trophy to be held at Breda, Netherlands from June 23 to July 1. The team leaves for Amsterdam on Sunday, three weeks ahead of the competition, where they play five practice matches before finalising the 18 players for the event. “The purpose of sending four extra players is aimed at preparing a winning combination for the Jakarta Asian Games which is our main target,` chief selector Islahuddin Siddiqui, flanked by former Olympian and team manager Hasan Sardar, told newsmen while announcing the team at the Abdul Sattar Edhi Hockey Stadium.

Islah said the selection was ‘unanimous and performance-based’ which was evident from the fact that some players had made a comeback in the team. “The doors are open for players who couldn’t earn selection to prove their mettle again,” he added. Asked to explain the reason as to why no player from Karachi, which had served as one of the biggest nurseries of the game in the yesteryears, was in the team, he admitted only 48 players turned up in the open trials convened by the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) despite rich talent available in the metropolis.

Responding to a query, Sardar said the Holland event would benefit the greenshirts to play against the top European teams besides archrivals India. “We will go all out to achieve better results in the Trophy,” the former Olympian remarked. Sardar said after losing to India four times in a row by big margins, his boys held them to a two-all draw at the Commonwealth Games which was a sign of improvement.

He replied in affirmative when asked if the ratio of penalty corner conversion had improved. “Both Mubbashir and Aleem Bilal are scoring goals on penalty corners but the forwards are not performing up to the mark,” he remarked annoyingly. To another question, he said Abottabad boot camp was exclusively set up to improve the physical fitness of players under the Australian trainer Daniel Berry and that had had the desired impact. He went on to say that besides head coach Roleant Oltmans and physical trainer Berry, the PHF had hired the services of a specialised goalkeeping coach and penalty corner expert in Holland to improve the team’s skills.

At the outset, the probables who were attending the camp, appeared in three sessions of ten minutes each in the trials which were watched among others by the PHF President Khalid Sajjad Khokhar, secretary general Shahbaz Ahmed, selectors Islahuddin, Ayaz Mahmood and Farhat Khan besides the team management. Two selectors Mussadiq Hussain and Qasim Khan were conspicuous by their absence.

Pakistan squad: Imran Butt, MazharAbbas, Amjad Ali (goal-keepers), Irfan Sr, Mubbashir Ali, Aleem Bilal, Ammad Shekeel Butt (vice-captain), Touseeq Arshad, Rashid Ali, Tasawwar Abbas, Rizwan Jr, Abu Bakar Mahmood, Ifan Jr, Arsalan Qadir, Umer Bhuttta, Rizwan Sr (captain), Shafqat Rasool, Ali Shan, Azfar Yaqoob, Aijaz, Rana Suhail and Mohammad Dilber.

Officials: Hasan Sardar (manager), Roelant Oltmans (head coach), Rehan Butt, M Saq1ain (coaches), Daniel Berry (physical trainer).

Published in Daily Times, June 1^st 2018.