Qamar wants 22-man squad for India series

Saturday, November 01, 2008

By our correspondent

KARACHI: Pakistan will name their youth hockey squad for the upcoming home series against India’s junior team following trials here at the Hockey Club of Pakistan Stadium on Sunday (tomorrow).

National junior team coach Qamar Ibrahim told ‘The News’ on Friday that he will request the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) to allow a 22-man squad for the series that will be played from November 12-20.

“It’s a very hectic series with a lot of traveling and very limited rest days,” Qamar, a former Olympian, pointed out. “I would recommend that we pick an extended 22-member squad so that we can try out maximum possible players during the series,” he added.

Pakistan and India colts will clash in the series opener here at the HCP Stadium under floodlights on November 12, after which the two teams will fly out for Islamabad next morning. The second match will be played at Rawalpindi’s Army Stadium on November 14 followed by the next three games in Faisalabad (Nov 16), Sialkot (Nov 18) and Lahore (Nov 20). The players will be travelling by road for the last three matches of the series.

The hurriedly-arranged series is aimed at providing a platform to the new national junior team management to start preparing the colts for the Junior World Cup to be played next June in Malaysia and Singapore.

The national selectors shortlisted 36 players following trials earlier this week. They will now pick the final squad for the series on Sunday following trials which will also be witnessed by new PHF president Qasim Zia and secretary Asif Bajwa.

Qamar said that all 36 probables are fully fit and ready for Sunday’s trials. “The boys are quite fit and we are hoping to raise a balanced squad for the series against India,” he said.

Shafqat Rasool, who represented Pakistan at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing this August, is likely to be retained as the national junior team captain.

Following the conclusion of the trials, the team will train for the next seven days in a bid to be fully prepared for the Indians, who have named a strong squad for the five-match series.

Short corner expert Diwakar Ram will lead Indian juniors in the series against Pakistan. Apart from Diwakar, the 20-member squad also includes leading junior players Innocent Kullu, Birendra Lakra, Mandip Antil and Amardeep Ekka.

India squad: Goalkeepers — Mrinal Chaubey and C Santosh Kumar. Defenders — Diwakar Ram (captain), Innocent Kullu, Manjit Kullu, Hari Kripal Yadav. Midfielders — Birendra Lakra, Amardeep Ekka, Belsezer Horo, Vivek, Rupinder Pal Singh, Mohammad Asif. Forwards — Pramod Kumar, Jagwant Singh, Mandip Antil, Danish Mujtaba, Dharamvir Singh, Jai Karan, Mohammad Amir, Karamjit Singh.

Officials: Rajeev Mehta (manager), A K Bansal (chief coach), Clarence Lobo (coach), Pradip Dutta (trainer), G S Sangha (umpire).