President of Pakistan Hockey Federation Qasim Zia states senior players still have a chance
Qasim Zia, the president of the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF), optimistically stated that there are still open chances for the senior players to come back to the national squad after proving their fitness prior to the 2012 London Olympics.
“The national team has to play around 50-odd international matches in the run-up to the Olympics and the best team would be selected two months prior travelling to London,” Qasim Zia stated his comments yesterday while talking to press and electronic media
in Lahore.
Regarding the inclusion of the senior players in the squad, Qasim Zia stated that it is the part of the federation’s policy to provide an ample opportunity to each and every player to feature in the national team if the players maintained the required level
of fitness to compete at the international level. He also stated that a number of young guns have been selected in the squad for the Asian Champions Trophy in order to provide them the international exposure and experience as they are the future of the Pakistan
hockey and are the replacements of the senior players.
“It’s the best time for juniors to show their talent to be strong contenders for selection in future,” Zia further added to his comments regarding the selection of some of the junior and young players in the squad for the Asian Champions Trophy.
He further told that the old astro-turf at the National Hockey Stadium Lahore will be replaced by a new, blue coloured, astro-turf hopefully by the end of this year. The Government of the Punjab has already released the required amount of funds and now it
is Punjab Sports Board’s turn to complete the process by inviting the tenders for the project.
Meanwhile, the Greenshirts’ squad includes the following athletes for the inaugural edition of the Asian Championship to be held in Ordos, China:
Muhammad Imran (captain), Shakeel Abbasi (vice captain), Waseem Ahmad, Fareed Ahmed, Rashid Mehmood, Imran Shah, Muhammad Kashif Javed, Imran Butt, Muhammad Irfan, Muhammad Rizwan Junior, Muhammad Tousiq, Muhammad Rizwan Senior, Syed Kashif Shah, Muhammad
Waqas Sharif, Shafqat Rasool, Abdul Haseem Khan, Muhammad Umar Bhutta and Ali Shan.
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