Lahore(June 20, 2018): Pakistan’s head coach Roelant Oltmans made a few changes in the squad from the Commonwealth Games to announce the 18-member team for the upcoming Champions Trophy.
Champion’s Trophy Men’s hockey tournament to be held in Breda, Netherlands from June 23 to July 1.
Chief selector Olympian Islah-ud-Din Siddiqi recommended the names of 22 players for the training camp which has been in progress in Netherlands for the last couple of weeks.
But Oltmans further reduced the list to 18 after watching the performance of the players in the training camp.
Oltmans preferred to call back seniors players to oust a good number of juniors. Among them is half-back Rashid Mahmood, forwards Umar Bhutta and Aijaz Ahmed, midfielder Azfar Yaqoob, defender Aleem Bilal and goalkeeper Amjad Ali.
Under Oltmans’ coaching, the national team showed some improved performances as it remained unbeaten in the Commonwealth Games after playing three drawn matches against Wales, India and England.
Pakistan’s performance in Gold Coast was also an improvement to their high-scoring defeats, especially at the hands of India in the previous tournaments.
New Pakistani squad:
M.Rizwan Sr (captain), Imran Butt, Amjad Ali, M.Irfan Sr, Mubashir Ali, Aleem Bilal, Ammad Shakeel Butt, Touseeq Arshad, Rashid Mahmood, Tasawar Abbas, Abu Bakar, M.Irfan Jr, Arslan Qadir, Umar Bhutta, Shafqat Rasool, Ali Shan, Azfar Yaqoob, Aijaz Ahmed.
Manager: Hasan Sardar, Head Coach: Roelant Oeltmans, Assistant Coaches: M.Saqlain and Rehan Butt.
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