LAHORE Selection committee of the Pakistan Hockey Federation, after holding one-day trials at the National Hockey Stadium on Wednesday, announced a 16-member junior squad to take part in the first Youth Olympic Games. Chief selector, Olympian Hanif Khan, along with his other members -- Mussadiq Hussain, Arshad Chaudhry and Mohammad Usman -- watched the boys in the trials before finalising the squad.
The event is scheduled to be held in Singapore from Aug 14 to 26. Six teams will take part in the hockey event which will be played on single-league basis.
Pakistan will play their first match against Ghana on Aug 17, second against Chile on Aug 18, third against Singapore on Aug 20, fourth against Australia on Aug 21 and fifth against Belgium on Aug 23.
Final and classification matches will be played on Aug 24.
Chief selector Hanif Khan said that the selected squad was talented and capable of winning the event. He felt defence of the squad was strong and hoped youngsters would deliver.
Meanwhile, coach Khawaja Junaid said the event would help the selection committee pick some youngsters as back up for the national side.
He said there were many talented players who had the ability to get place in the national team in future.
Squad
Goalkeepers Mazhar Abbas, Adnan Shakoor.
Fullbacks Amir Sultan, Usman Aslam, Ali Hassan Faraz.
Halves Mohammad Sohaib, Syed Kashif Shah (captain), Amir Ashiq, Mohammad Rizwan.
Forwards Mohammad Umair, Mohammad Irfan, Arslan Qadir, Ahmad Zubair, Mohammad Suleman, Ali Shan, Mohammad Adnan.
Standbys Yasir Khan, Fahad Khan, Yasir Ali, Kamran Asif, Hafiz Zohaib, Shaharyar, Abdul Karim and Zohaib Khan.
