LAHORE: Umar Bhutta will lead a 20-member Pakistan squad at this month`s Asia Cup, the Pakistan Hockey Federation’s national selection committee announced after resolving its differences with the country’s hockey governing body. The Asia Cup will be held in Jakarta from May 23 to June 1 and the team was selected from among 24 probables, who attended the training camp in Lahore, which will continue till the squad’s departure. While Umar has been retained as captain, the main talking point was that the selection committee led by Manzoor Junior, which did not announce the team for its tour of Europe last month, announced the team after a detailed briefing with head coach Siegfried Aikman and the team management. After the team for the tour of Europe was announced by the PHF in coordination with Aikman and without consultations with the selection committee, the committee officials had threatened to offer their resignations. Things, though, have now been settled. “Our main objective is to put national hockey on the right track,” Manzoor said on Wednesday. “The entire selection committee had a detailed briefing from the team management and discussed several points before giving the nod for the squad. The committee is satisfied with the performance of the team under Aikman and we hope the team gives a good performance at the tournament which is also a qualifier for next year’s FIH World Cup.”
Pakistan to face archrivals India in their opener: Archrivals Pakistan and India will meet in their first match of the 11th edition of the Asia Cup in Jakarta, Indonesia on May 23. India, the third highest-ranked team in the world, have been placed in the Pool A with Pakistan, Japan and hosts Indonesia and will play Pakistan in the last match in the opening day’s schedule. Pool B includes Malaysia, South Korea, Oman and Bangladesh in the eight-team competition. The competition will start with a Pool B encounter between Malaysia and Oman on May 23. The top two teams from each pool will qualify for the Super 4s Pool, the top two teams of which will compete in the final on June 1 while the third and fourth-placed teams will figure in the match for bronze medal. India are the most successful nation in Asia Cup having won the title thrice. India and Pakistan have last played each other in the Asian Champions Trophy 2021 which India won 4-3 to claim bronze medal. The Asia Cup is being held after a gap of two years as it was postponed last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The top three teams at the end of the Asia Cup will qualify for next year’s FIH Hockey World Cup, to be held in Bhubaneswar and Rourkela. India have already qualified for the World Cup as the hosts.
Squad:
Goalkeepers: Akmal Hussain, Abdullah Ishtiaq Khan: Defenders: Mubashir Ali, Emad Shakeel Butt, Hamadud-Din Anjum, Muhammad Abdullah. Rizwan Ali. Midfielders Umar Bhatta. Ali Shaan. Moin Shakeel, Abdul Hanan. Junaid Manzoor, Ghazanfar Ali; Attackers. Abu Bakar Mahmood, Ejaz Ahmed. Rana Abdul Waheed, Muhammad Salman Razzaq, A fraz . Roman, Abdul Hunan Shahid.
Team management:
Khawaja Junaid (manager), Siegfried Aikman (head coach), Daniel Herry (physical instructor), Ajmal Khan Lodhi and Wasim Ahmed, Olympian Sameer Hussain (assistant coaches), Imran Shah and 1mran Butil (goalkeeping coaches), Nadeem Lodhi (video analyst), Adcel Akhtar and Muhammad Aslam (physio).