After conclusion of two-day trials at the National Hockey Stadium Lahore, an 18-member Pakistan hockey team for the FIH Pro League was named here Saturday. The trials were watched by the national selection committee comprising Islahuddin Siddiqui (chief selector), Ayaz Mahmood, Qasim Khan and Mussaddiq Hussain (members). Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) president Khalid Sajjad Khokhar and acting secretary general Muhammad Ikhlaq Usmani were also present. Ali Shan has been named captain of the side. Hockey hopes to begin a new with the kick off of world body’s ambitious annual Pro League, a new competition which aims to transform the sport and reduce its dependence on the Olympic Games for exposure. The league will feature nine national teams in the men’s and women’s competitions, playing each other home and away over a six-month period followed by semi-finals and a final. Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Germany, Britain, the Netherlands and New Zealand will play in the men’s and women’s leagues with Pakistan and Spain completing the lineup in the men’s and China and the USA in the women’s. India, eight-times men’s Olympic champions, are not taking part, having pulled out 18 months ago as the federation did not believe it would benefit the women’s team and did not want only the men’s team to take part.
Pakistan team:
Waqar Ahmad (goalkeeper), Amjad Ali (goalkeeper) Aleem Bilal, Mubashar Ali, Rizwan Ali, Amjad Ali, Abu Bakar Mahmood, Moin Shakeel, Azfar Yaqoob, Faisal Qadir, Atif Mushtaq, Ali Shan (c), Atiq Arshad, Rana Waheed, Ghazanfar Ali, Shan Irshad, Ali Aziz and Junaid Manzoor.
Stand-byes: Adeel Latif, Salman Razaq, Rana Suhail, Saran Bin Qamar, Taimoor Malik, Sami Ullah, Ammad ud din, Akmal Hussian
Manager-Head Coach: Saeed Khana
Coaches: Rehan Butt and Danish Kaleem.
Published in Daily Times, January 20th 2019.