Green-shirts’ Australian tour squad can be reserved for the 2012 London Olympic Games
Hanif Khan, the former Olympian and the current chief selector of the national hockey team, stated that the twenty five selected probables for the forthcoming Australian tour could be retained for next year’s Olympic Games, scheduled to be held in London,
England, in July 2012.
“We won’t be doing any more experiments. Players who put up a good performance and prove their fitness in the camp and trials will get the nod,” Hanif Khan added in his comments.
Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF’s) selection committee selected players for the Australian campaign earlier this month.
The national team will play a test match series against the ruling world champions, the Australians, besides featuring in the four-nation nine-a-side tournament, International Super Hockey Series in Perth from October 20 to November 4.
Pakistan’s green-shirts are a blend of youth and experience. Playing with the newcomers are two of the most experienced players of the national team, goalkeeper Salman Akbar and drag flicker, Sohail Abbas.
Sohail Abbas also holds the world record of the highest number of goals scored along with the highest penalty corner conversion rate of almost 65 percent.
The seasoned duo had previously been overlooked by the federation for the first Asian Champions Trophy hockey tournament held last month in China where the green-shirts lost to their arch-rivals, India, in the final on penalty shoot-outs.
During the event, the team’s goalkeeping department and the drag flickers did not perform up to the mark as the national team missed seven penalty corners in the final.
Pakistan’s disappointing performance in the match forced PHF to change its decision about Salman Akbar and Sohail Abbas.
Pakistan’s national team includes the following players for the Australian tour:
Muhammad Imran, Shakeel Abbasi, Syed Kashif Shah, Sohail Abbas, Muhammad Rizwan Sr, Muhammad Zubair, Waseem Ahmed, Rashid Mehmood, Fareed Ahmed, Muhammad Imran Jr, Abdul Haseem Khan, Imran Shah, Muhammad Umar Bhutta, Muhammad Irfan, Shafqat Rasool, , Imran
Butt, Muhammad Rizwan Jr, Muhammad Tousiq, Muhammad Waqas, Muhammad Kashif Javed, Ali Shan, Salman Akbar, Tasawwar Abbas and Muhammad Suleman.
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