Olympics hockey squad to be named on Sunday

No automatic choices for 2012 London, says selector.

KARACHI:

Pakistan’s hockey squad for the London Olympics will be announced on July 1 after trials, the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) announced yesterday.

The PHF invited 26 probables for the training camp in Abbottabad to begin the final phase of the preparations and a PHF official confirmed that the squad will be announced after holding trials on the same day. Although the PHF recalled several seniors - Rehan Butt, Shakeel Abbasi, Waseem Ahmed, Mohammad Imran and Salman Akber - a selector said there were no automatic choices.

“Although experience will be preferred, fitness and form will be the main criteria before we finalise the squad,” said the selector. “We will give our best to select the top performers in the trials.”

Apart from the players, the selection of a captain for the mega event is also a key decision that the PHF will have to make on Sunday.

Meanwhile, coach Khwaja Junaid confirmed that the players had started arriving for the camp that begins today.

“We are expecting perfect attendance at the camp,” said Junaid.

Published In The Express Tribune, June 27^th, 2012.