Pak hockey players training for Lausanne event underway

KARACHI: The training camp of Pakistan hockey 5-a-side team for the five-nation FIH Hockey Tournament, going to be held in Lausanne, Switzerland, began at Johar town park in Lahore from April 10 and will continue till April 28.

At the end of the camp, Pakistan team will be finalised which will participate in the International Five A Side Hockey Tournament to be held from June 4-5.

Besides Pakistan, India, Poland, Malaysia and Switzerland will take part in the tournament.

The national selection committee selected the players for the tournament last week after two-day trials. The head coach Olympian Rehan Butt, when contacted, compared the hockey 5 competitions to T20 and futsal in cricket and football, respectively.

“This version is fast paced, competitive and aggressive with fewer limitations on goal scoring. Any player irrespective of the position can hit and score the goal. In the absence of penalty corners and corners, only penalty stroke opportunities are available and if the ball remains in the field the game continues in case of no scoring,” Butt said .

He said that matches in the Switzerland tournament would be of 20 minutes duration — 10 minutes for each half.

He said that Hockey 5 is going through its developing period which will evolve in some time.

The three-time Olympian said that Pakistan 5-a-side is also in developing state and gradually players would showcase their skills and become superstars of this format.

The coach hoped that the coming tournament would be a great opportunity for their players to show their talent and skills through performance which would also help Pakistan hockey in the future as the game of hockey is evolving continuously and coming up with vast changes in rules.

All players in the team are under 23 as this fast-paced hockey demands young, energetic, and aggressive players, Butt said.

He said that these players would resume training from May 7. “They will be shortlisted by the national selection committee and it is expected that the second phase of the training will comprise 15 players,” he said.

He added that Pakistan 5-a-side for the five-nation tournament would be composed of nine players.

Currently the training camp comprises 25. Olympian Waqas Sharif is serving as the coach.

Goalkeepers: M Ali (Gojra), Babar Ali (Gojra), Haider Manzoor (Sahiwal)

Defenders: Alian Ahmadi (Karachi), Bilal Aslam (Pir Mahal), Mohibullah (Bannu), Ehtesham Aslam (Wah Cantt), Omar Mustafa (Kasur), Osama Bashir (Lahore), Hassan Amin (Multan)

Forwards: Abdul Rehman (Kasur), Shiraz Butt (Gojra), Murtaza Yaqub (Lahore), Afraz (Peshawar), Arshad Liaquat (Bahawalpur), Abdullah (Sialkot), Abuzar (Faisalabad), Shahzeb Khan (Karachi), Mohsin Khan (Bannu), Abdul Manan (Multan), Hamad Ali (Navy), Zain Anil (Karachi), Emad (Lahore), Timur Khan, Haseeb Masood (Lahore).