PHF names President XI team

LAHORE: Pakistan Hockey Federation’s chief selector Islahuddin Siddique Friday announced the 18-member President XI team for the Hockey Series Open (HSO) scheduled to be held from December 17-22 here at the National Hockey Stadium, says a press release.

The Hockey Series Open is an FIH event and the four nations — Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Nepal — will be competing in the event.

Since, Pakistan have been selected for the FIH Pro League, the high profile new event starting from early 2019, the Pakistan side here is not the national side and it will enter as the President XI.

Importantly, the matches played by the President XI against the other sides will only be considered friendly games and will not carry any points towards the event.

The other four sides will be competing against each other in real terms. President XI squad: Goalkeepers: Muneebur Rehman & Hafiz Umair. Defenders: Abid Bhatti, Muhammad Ammar, Samiullah & Mubashar Jibran. Midfielders: Usman Ghani, Mohibullah, Ali Raza (Gojra) & Asif Hanif.

Forwards: Zaheer Hussain, Abdul Mannan, Murtaza Yaqoob, Awaisur Rehman (captain), Qamar Bhukhari, Arsalan Haider, Zulqarnain & Mohsin Khan.