ISLAMABAD With only slim chances of placing well in the upcoming junior hockey World Cup, Pakistan Hockey Federation on Friday short listed 20 players for the mega event.
Announcing names of junior players, Hasan Sardar, chief selector of the PHF, informed media 'We have selected 19 top performers for the second round of the training camp and final squad will be announced on May 22.'
The second phase of trails will start in Lahore from May 19.
The next month's Junior World Cup will be co-hosted by Singapore and Malaysia and is slated to be held from June 7-21.
Pakistan is placed in group A in the event along with Argentina, Russia, Egypt and Belgium.
Pakistani team will play its first match against Russia on June 7.
Six junior players, he said, were currently attached with the senior team to play the upcoming Asia Cup.
The former Olympian said 'Six players will join the training camp after conclusion of the Asia Cup.'
Shafqat Rasool, Haseem Khan, Fareed Ahmed, Waqas Sahrif, Abbas Haider and Mohammad Irfan are currently assigned with the national team.
Hasan accepted that they were facing difficulty in getting new talent.
'Unfortunately the stuff is not there but the federation is consistently working on grooming the young talent and setting the hockey academies is part of the junior development programme' he said.
Meanwhile, Khwaja Junaid, chief coach, added 'We will play two warm up matches in Malaysia days before the start of the tournament.'
'Our focus is to win and to put up a strong show in the upcoming event' he concluded.
Players
(Goal Keepers) Imran Butt, Imran Shah, (Full Backs) Amir Shehzad, Kashif Ali, Wasif Sddiqui, Khalid Bhatti, Mohammad Attique, Usman Tariq, (Half Backs) Mohsin Bilal, Sibain Raza, Zeeshan Ali, Zeeshan Ahmed, Mohammad Rashid, (Forwards) Mohammad Toufeeq, Umar Bhutta, Hasan Akhtar, Inayat ullah, Mohammad Zubair, Azlan Khan, Mohammad Rizwan.
dar watches a practice session of the junior hockey team.—APP/File
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