Greenshirts depart for Azlan Shah Cup

KARACHI: The 18-member Pakistan hockey team led by Olympian Umer Bhutta departed for Malaysia to participate in Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey tournament on Friday night.

Despite facing financial constraints, PHF successfully resolved the issue of expenditure of Malaysian tour, which was necessary for the newly-raised Pakistan hockey team as far as their international ranking is concerned.

The team departed for the Malaysian tour amid differences between the PHF and sports authorities in the federal government.

The other participating teams in the Azlan Shah Cup are South Africa, Malaysia, Egypt, Japan and South Korea.

The PHF secretary Haider Hussain has said that Greenshirts are young as average age of the players is 23 years. Except captain Olympian Umer Bhutta all players have graduated from the junior team.

Haider said that the skillful boys have been selected on the basis of their performance in domestic hockey and their form and fitness. They are inexperienced but desperate to represent Pakistan at international level and do something special so that the prestige of Pakistan hockey could be restored, he added.

He said that Malaysian tour would give experience to all young players which would help them in the preparation of Asian Games 2023.

He said that there is no ambiguity that these youngsters would be the future of Pakistan hockey. There is need to give them international match experience so that they learn and improve fast, he added.

The PHF secretary said that he did not want to make tall claims as there is need for patience. The boys need time to prove their skills at international level, he said.

He mentioned that national selection committee was watching the progress of forwards, goalkeepers, PC specialists and defenders all of whom come on the basis of their good performance in domestic hockey.

He said that Pakistan selection committee led by Olympian Kaleemullah was present at each and every domestic hockey match and saw themselves how they played in different conditions and then called them for trials.

Haider said that PHF is working hard and private sector is helping it to run the system of national game in the country. There is need to bring more multinational institutions for the sponsorship of Pakistan’s national game, he said.

Pakistan will play its first match on November 1 against South Africa, Nov 2 against Malaysia, Nov 4 against Japan, Nov 5 against Korea, and Nov 7 against Egypt.

Squad: Akmal Hussain (GK), Abdullah Ishtiaq Khan (GK), Muhammad Abdullah, Muhammad Sufyan Khan, Arbaz Ahmad, Aqeel Ahmad, Ahtisham Aslam, Muhammad Murtaza Yaqoob, Rana Abdul Waheed Ashraf, Rooman, Abdul Hannan Shahid, Muhammad Umar Bhutta (Captain), Junaid Manzoor, Arshad Liaqat, Afraz, Muhammad Shahzaib Khan, Usama Bashir and Muhammad Imran

Officials:: Muhammad Saeed Khan, team manager, Siegfried Gottlieb Aikman, head coach, Olympian Ayaz Mahmood coach, Abu Zar Umrao, Video Analyst.