LAHORE: The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) on Wednesday announced a 20-member squad for the FIH Men’s World Cup.
Abu Bakr Mahmood has been retained as captain of the national team while the vice-captain will be announced by Friday, chief selector Samiullah Khan told Dawn from Islamabad where the squad was unveiled.
According to Samiullah, the squadhadbeenchosen jointly by the national selectors and the recentlyappointed foreign coaching staff.He said head coach Herman Kruis was currently in the Netherlands on a pre-assignment and would join the Pakistan team when they reached there.
Expressing cautious optimism, Samiullah said that Pakistan’s recent performances against South Korea in the ongoing home series, in which they established an unassailable 3-0 lead in the four-match Test series, had boosted the team’s confidence.
‘We have a realistic chance of holding India to a draw in the group stage. If that happens, defeatingWales is quite possible.
However, beating England will be extremely difficult because they are among the world’s best teams, while Pakistan are currently placed 12th in the rankings,’ Samiullah stated.
Squad· Abu Bakr Mahmood (captain), Mohammad Sufyan Khan, Moi.n Shakeel, Rana Abdul Waheed Ashraf, Abdul Hannan, Zikriya Hayat, Arshad Liaquat, Adeel Latif, Ahmad Nadeem, Ghazanfar Ali, Ammad Butt, Mohammad Hammaduddin, Abdul Rehman, Afraz, Umar Mustafa, Abdul Manan, Mohammad Ammad, Mohammad Abdullah.
Goalkeepers: Waqar, Ali Raza Teammanagement: Mohammad Awais Qarni (team manager); Bob Johan Veldhof (head coach); Christopher Bowen, Adnan Zakir (assistant coaches); Ashraf Sultan (videotechnician).-MohammadYaqoob