Rana Mujahid feels junior team has become source of players for national Men’s hockey team
Rana Mujahid, the chief coach and the manager of the national junior hockey team, believes that the national junior squad has now become a valuable source for the national team to pick up the players to represent the country at the highest level of the sport.
Currently, four of the junior team’s players have been selected in the national squad for the upcoming Asian Champions Trophy scheduled to be played in Ordos, China from September 3 to 11.
“Junior team has finally become a source to produce players for the senior team and in the recent selection of Pakistan senior team for the 1st Asian Champions Trophy; four of its players namely Muhammad Umer Bhutta, Rizwan Jr., Kashif Javed and Ali Shan
are from the junior side,” Former Olympian Rana Mujahid, the chief coach and the manager of the junior hockey team, shared his views about the junior athletes.
Commenting on the performance of the junior athletes against the Egypt’s national senior team Rana Mujahid gave them the full credit of the victory and also stated that the junior team still needs an improvement in their finishing ability and they are still
to learn to tackle the pressure situations in the field during the match.
“These gray areas were noticed during the Egypt series and we are working on them by bettering the skills and techniques of the junior players who need highest level of exposure and experience,” Mujahid stated about junior team’s recent tour of Egypt.
The national junior team had defeated the senior Egyptian team by 2-1 in a four match test series recently concluded in Egypt while one game ended in a draw.
Rana Mujahid has further stated that the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) has a set of approximately 200 junior players which is the result of PHF academies working in the country. He also pointed out that some of the junior players like Mazhar Abbas, Tassawar
Abbas, Khalid Bhatti and Bilal Qadir are on the verge of selection for the national team.
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