Teams’ preparations for National Hockey Championship gain pace

KARACHI: Teams have started organising training camps and signing new players as part of their preparation for the 65th National Hockey Championship, which will be held here from July 23 to August 7, ‘The News’ has learnt.

NBP will be defending their title and will look to maintain their supremacy in domestic hockey. They have started training for the event and have recently signed some senior and junior players to boost their chances. But they will face a tough challenge in the form of last edition’s runners-up WAPDA.

WAPDA held their training camp in Lahore and will be eyeing to finish the tournament as winners this time. They have the services of some good players of the national and junior teams who have the ability to change the game. A high-intensity action will be seen when WAPDA clash with other title contenders like NBP, PIA and SSGC.

Meanwhile, PIA have acquired the services of some new players in order to improve their title chances. PIA, one of the most prestigious teams in domestic hockey having won a record number of championships, organised their training camp here. They failed to reach the final in the last edition and were knocked out by WAPDA in the semi-final. Before that, they had won the championship for three consecutive years.

They have inducted six new players in the team. Some of these players used to represent ZTBL, which scrapped its hockey team. Experienced goalkeeper Imran Butt, forwards Haseem Khan, Zubair, Shafqat, Irfan and Amir will be part of the PIA side.

Shahid Ali Khan, PIA’s deputy general manager sports, told ‘The News’ that they have hired the services of talented young players who have been performing well at the domestic level.

PIA have suffered a slump lately due to financial crisis. But with the signing of these new players, they are confident of doing well at this year’s event.

“We are capable enough to reach the semi-final. And anything can happen in the knockout stage. We are not making tall claims but this combination of senior and young players will produce good results. They are being groomed under seasoned Olympians and former players of PIA,” an official of PIA told this correspondent.

SSGC, who finished third behind NBP and WAPDA last year, also have their sights set on the title. They have the services of national team players Azfar Yaqoob, Rana Sohail and also have five junior team players at their disposal.

Other teams including Army, PAF, Navy and Punjab are also preparing for the championship.

The teams will start arriving here for the National Hockey Championship from next week.