Pak Under-18s to tour Australia

ISLAMABAD: Hockey Australia have confirmed hosting Pakistan under-18 team for their national championship in April.

Pakistan Hockey Federation’s (PHF) secretary Shahbaz Ahmad Sr confirmed to ‘The News’ that the team would travel to Australia in April to play in the Australian National Under-18 Championship. “We have received invitation from Hockey Australia to send our national under-18 team. We have accepted the invitation,” he added.

Shahbaz added that Pakistan juniors in recent past had struggled hard to get international exposure. “Either our juniors are not getting required exposure at right age or there is no real competition available to get the best out of these players at the outset of their careers. The tour to Australia has been arranged to achieve two purposes. By playing against the best in Australia, these juniors will learn to deal with pressure,” he said.

“Pakistan juniors are to play at least ten matches there,” he added.

The national under-18 team’s head coach Kamran Ashraf confirmed that the juniors had also received invitation from New Zealand hockey to play a six-match series in February. “The PHF has requested them to tie up the series with the Australian tour. Hopefully the dates will be changed accordingly. Otherwise, Pakistan juniors would travel to New Zealand in February,” said Kamran.

As many as 55 under-18 players are currently training in Lahore. “The strength will be reduced to 40 on Wednesday (today) and a couple of weeks later will be reduced even further,” he added.