Chances of juniors training camp in Karachi bleak

KARACHI: The chances of Pakistan junior hockey team’s training camp in Karachi next month are dim because of the increasing number of Covid-19 cases in Sindh, ‘The News’ learnt on Wednesday.

Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) has written a letter to National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) for getting permission to organise the training camp for the juniors in June.

The Sindh government has curbed movement of people in an effort to control the pandemic, directing citizens to stay home after 8pm.

Pakistan are to participate in the Junior Asia Cup 2021, of which the new schedule is yet to be announced by AHF. The Junior Asia Cup has been postponed twice due to Covid-19. It was scheduled from July 1-10 in Dhaka.

The Junior Asia Cup is also the qualifying round for the Junior World Cup. The PHF wants the juniors training camp to be started from the first or the second week of June.

But in the current circumstances in Karachi, it seems difficult for PHF to organise the training camp.

Sources said that the training camp could be shifted to Lahore. They said the players were continuing their physical training and individual hockey skills practice in their hometowns.

The other participant teams of Junior Asia Cup are much more experienced, particularly India, Japan, Malaysia and South Korea.

According to the hockey experts, the proposed 7-9 hockey matches series with Pakistan seniors was the only option for the juniors to get match experience, but even that could not be materialised because of Covid-19 in the country.

Hockey experts said that PHF would have to resolve this issue before the announcement the new schedule of Junior Asia Cup. Otherwise Pakistan juniors would face a lot of problem in the tournament. Three teams will qualify for the Junior World Cup 2022 from Asia Cup.