Junior hockey team to depart for Malaysia on Thursday

Youngsters to take part in six-nation Sultan Johor Cup from Oct 12

KARACHI: A new-look Pakistan hockey junior team will leave from Lahore for Malaysia on Thursday to participate in the 4th Sultan of Johor Cup 2014.

Out of 46 probables, the final 18 were selected on October 5 in the presence of the Islahuddin Siddiqui-led selection committee at the Naseer Bunda Hockey Stadium, while the camp was concluded on the same date due to Eid holidays.

“We’re sending the team to give the players a much-needed international exposure,” said Islahuddin. “It will take four years before we can expect anything from the youngsters.”

The probables received 12 days training under the supervision of the national junior team’s head coach Manzoorul Hassan.

“This will be the first team match for the selected players. They haven’t experienced any team training, we only worked on strategy of the game in this training camp,” Hassan told The Express Tribune.

Commenting on the expected performance of the team, the coach said that their target is the 2016 Rio Olympics.

“We aren’t expecting them to win in the upcoming tournament, but if they do, it will be a bonus,” said Hassan. “The best 16 players will be trained constantly till 2016 by selecting a different player for each tournament on the basis of their performance.”

The fourth edition of the Sultan Johor Cup, which will commence on October 12, will see a total of six teams comprising hosts Malaysia, defending champions India, Pakistan, Australia, Great Britain and New Zealand. The classification matches and the finals of the tournament are scheduled to be played on October 19.

On the opening day, Pakistan face Great Britain after which they will be up against Australia on October 13, followed by India on October 15, New Zealand on October 16 and Malaysia on October 18.