PHF retains hockey seniors for upcoming Europe Fixtures: Hockey News
The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) retained their senior players and announced the national squad for the upcoming Europe Tour which will be an important fixture ahead of the 2011 Champions Trophy and the 2012 London Olympics.
Senior names include Rehan Butt, Shakeel Abbasi, Sohail Abbas and Waseem Ahmed who will be part of the 18-member squad for the forth-coming trip. The inclusion of senior players in the squad is clear indication that they will be given chances to grace the
colours in the 2012 London Olympics. Besides other names, the legendary goalie, Salman Akbar, has also made a comeback into the squad after being dropped in the Azlan Shah Cup. In a bid to continue the course of action, the selectors picked up Imran Shah as
the skipper of the national side for the European fixtures.
Hanif Khan, the Chief Selector of the Pakistan hockey team has announced the line-up after one-day trials that took place at the Naseer Bunda Hockey Stadium.
Speaking to the media after the announcement, the Chief Selector was of the opinion that they would continue their support with the experienced players as long as they deliver results. He stated, “We’ve retained the Azlan Shah Cup squad except for three
changes. We brought back Akbar to replace Imran Butt since he is back from Netherlands and available for the matches. Irfan and Rasool had shown improvement in the two-week camp which is why we brought them back as well.”
In his views, the seniors are asset of the national squad and it would be a great chance for them to prove their worth. He hoped that the senior players would show impressive performances in the upcoming events.
It is pertinent to mention here that the Greenshirts, under the captainship of fullback Muhammad Imran, showed brilliant performance and managed the silver medal after losing the game in the hands of Australian via golden goal in the overtime.
Under the supervision of Dutch Coach, Michel van den Heuvel, the training camp of the Greenshirts will be underway until the team leaves for Ireland. They will contest a couple of four-nation tournaments in Ireland and the Netherlands besides playing numerous
Test games against Belgium, Netherlands and New Zealand.
In the Dublin’s four-nation event, they will feature against China, France and the host Ireland that is scheduled to be held from June 20 to 25. In the next fixture, the Greenshirts will partake in RaboBank Trophy where they will face England, Germany and
the host Netherlands that is scheduled to be start on June 28, 2011. Besides the four-team events, Pakistan will meet the Black Sticks, the Netherlands and Belgium in the test matches.
The line-up of the Greenshirts is comprised of Muhammad Imran, Sohail Abbas, Salman Akbar, Waseem Ahmad, Fareed Ahmed Shakeel Abbasi, Muhammad Irfan, Rehan Butt, Muhammad Tousiq, Rashid Mehmood, Waqas Sharif, Shafqat Rasool, Imran Shah Abdul Haseem Khan,
Muhammad Rizwan Senior, Waqas Akbar, Muhammad Zubair and Syed Kashif Shah.
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