Trials for Azlan Shah Cup from tomorrow

ISLAMABAD: Trials to select Pakistan team for the Azlan Shah Cup will now be held on Sunday and Monday instead of Saturday-Sunday to ensure arrival of Karachi-based players.

‘The News’ has learnt that the PSB has communicated to the organisers of the camp in Karachi to ensure timely arrival of the players at the Bunda Ground on Saturday for the start of the trials from Sunday. “We have communicated to the organisers of the camp in Karachi to ensure timely arrival of players in Islamabad for trials to be conducted on Sunday and Monday. Earlier, the trials were to start from Saturday.

The PSB, however, has delayed start of the trials for a day to ensure timely arrival of Karachi players,” one of the officials told ‘The News’. The organisers in Karachi have also been told that the PSB will reimburse travelling expenditures of the players travelling from Karachi to Islamabad the moment they land in the capital.

“We have already made all the arrangements of their boarding at the PSB Hostel in Islamabad where other hockey players have also been residing since start of the camp,” the official said. The government has already given all the powers to Head Coach Roelant Oltmans to select the team for Azlan Shah Cup in coordination with the director general PSB, a representative from the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA). The POA has nominated former Pakistan captain Manzoorul Hasan to act as a selector and help Oltmans to finalise the team.