Training camps of senior, junior hockey teams in Abbottabad

KARACHI: Pakistan's senior and junior players are going to be ready to attend the physical fitness training camp in Abbotabad from later this month or early next month, 'The News' learnt on Saturday.

PHF will announce the names of the probable players in a couple of days for the training camp and also its schedule.

Informed sources said that Pakistan junior hockey team would have to participate in the Junior Asia Cup in January 2021 in Bangladesh. This will be after many years that the junior team will participate in an international tournament. The Junior Asia Cup 2021 is also the qualifying round for Junior Hockey World Cup, which Pakistan has not played for past eight years due to which there is an acute shortage of talented players at the senior level.

The seniors are to participate in the Asian Champions Trophy in March 2021 in Bangladesh. The seniors will participate in an international competition after around one and a half years. The other teams in the evnt are India, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, and China.

Top PHF officials recently met PM Imran Khan, President Dr Arif Alvi, and COAS General Qamar Javed Bajwa. All of them promised support for hockey and said that all efforts would be made to revive the national game and funds would be given to PHF. The COAS has already provided Rs50 million to PHF, which had been facing shortage of funds.

The physical training camps of both strings would be held separately in Abbottabad, said sources.

Meanwhile, it was learnt that PHF would organise one or two big domestic competitions in October. The dates of the these events would be decided in a few days, said sources. It is also learnt that PHF secretary Asif Bajwa would visit Karachi next week to examine the condition of PHF-owned Abdul Sattar Hockey stadium, which was devastated during the recent heavy rains in Karachi.