Hockey goalkeepers training camp from Monday

KARACHI: The training camp for 10 goalkeepers picked during the recent national hockey championship will start from Monday in Lahore.

Olympian Shahid Ali Khan, who will train the goalkeepers, will reach Lahore on Monday. After the camp, which will continue till August 25, four or five of these goalkeepers will be selected for the training camp of Pakistan senior team for 2020 Olympics qualifiers. Shahid told ‘The News’ that time was short for complete training “but the goalkeepers are fit and in form because they recently participated in the national championship”.

He said that some of the 10 goalkeepers were good enough for international competitions. He added that during this one-week training camp they would be trained about how to handle difficult situations. He said that the lads would be trained to meet the challenges of international competitions.

He said that PHF had directed him to prepare at least four goalkeepers for the training camp of Pakistan hockey team. He said the goalkeepers for the senior team’s camp would be shortlisted after consultation with chairman national selection committee Olympian Manzoor Junior and head coach Khwaja Junaid.

The training camp of the senior team is scheduled to begin in the same city in the last week of this month. Shahid, who represented Pakistan for more than a decade, said that Pakistan was likely to face European teams in the Olympic qualifiers who play fast, attacking hockey. “Thus we will train our goalkeepers according to the strength of the likely rivals,” he added.

He said that a comprehensive programme had been developed to prepare a dozen of goalkeepers for Pakistan senior, junior, under-16, and under-18 teams. Shahid, who was part of the 1984 Olympics winning team, said that after the seniors camp a group of goalkeepers would be trained for Pakistan junior team which is to participate in the Junior Asia Cup 2019 and Junior Hockey World Cup.

Shahid, who played Champions Trophy nine times during his illustrious career, said that the goalkeeper’s position in the senior team was open after the retirement of Imran Butt.