LAHORE, Feb 6 While announcing the 18-member Pakistan team for the Hockey World Cup, former Olympian and chief selector Hasan Sardar claimed it will at least play the semi-final of the mega event which is being held in New Delhi, India from Feb 29 to March 13.

“The way team played in the two-Test series against Holland and drew both the matches in Qatar shows it has the talent and will play the semi-final at least”, Hasan said confidently after naming the team at the conclusion of the two-day trials at the National Hockey Stadium on Saturday.

Hasan said the team was improving with each passing day and hopefully it would produce better results in the World Cup. He added that the boys were eager to play India in the tough opening match of the World Cup.

Meanwhile, manager of the team Asif Bajwa, who is also secretary Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF), said two goalkeepers were selected but which one will play the event is a decision for the team management. “We would take match-by-match decision in picking up goalkeepers,” he said.

Bajwa said it was the best team picked for the World Cup and it was a good sign that all the top players were available for selection. He said there were no fitness problems and the players did very well during the camp to overcome the flaws.

Meanwhile, Zeeshan Ashraf was retained as captain for the mega event which will be held in India. Though the team has been announced, the PHF still awaits the final clearance from the government for participation.

Squad Nasir Ahmad and Salman Akbar (goal-keepers), Zeeshan Ashraf (captain), Sohail Abbas and Muhammad Rashid (Full-Backs), Muhammad Irfan, Waseem Ahmad, Muhammad Imran, Fareed Ahmad and Sajjad Anwar (Halves), Rehan Butt, Shakeel Abbasi, Abdul Haseem Khan, Muhammad Zubair, Akhtar Ali, Omer Bhutta, Abbas Haider and Muhammad Rizwan (Forwards).

Muhammad Asif Bajwa is the team manager while Shahid Ali Khan is the coach. Shafqat Malik and Wouter Tazelaar are the two assistant coaches who will accompany the squad while Jos Geijsel (Physical Trainer), Nadeem Khan Lodhi (Video Analyst) and Faizur Rehman (Physio) will be the support staff.