Hockey-5 championship in Ramadan in Lahore

KARACHI: The PHF has planned to organise Pakistan’s first-ever Hockey 5 championship in Lahore during Ramadan under floodlights. The championship is being organised with an aim to sharpen the skills of the players and improve their fitness.

Most of the participants will be from the senior and junior teams of the country.

A PHF official informed this scribe that the junior team’s training camp was going on in Abbottabad and would end on May 10.

The boys from the junior team’s training camp would participate in the championship, said the official.

The players of the national senior team would also participate in this championship.

The Hockey-5 championship would either be held at National Hockey stadium or Johar Town Hockey stadium. Both stadia have floodlights.

Sources in the PHF also confirmed that handsome prize money would be given at the conclusion of the championship.

Five or six teams would participate in this championship and they would be named after cities of Pakistan, said an official.

The championship is expected to start from the seventh or the eighth of Ramadan.

Junior team’s chief coach Tahir Zaman said that Hockey-5 has no breaks, teams comprise five players and players can score from any part of the field. Goalkeepers have to remain alert all the time, he said.

He said this sharp hockey would improve the performance of the participants.

“At the Abbottabad training camp, we are aiming at improving physical fitness, tough training for goalkeepers, strengthening defence and boosting mental toughness of the players so that they become used to playing under pressure,” he added.  Zaman mentioned that the real test of the juniors would be in the international matches.