Players for second phase of training camp to be named today
The national hockey selection committee led by Olympian Manzoor Junior will announce the probable players for Pakistan team’s training camp on Monday (today).
The national hockey selection committee led by Olympian Manzoor Junior will announce the probable players for Pakistan team’s training camp on Monday (today).
The training camp is scheduled to be started from March 5 in Lahore. Informed sources said that the selection committee has held consultation with the team management about the selection of the players for the camp. Around 35 players are likely to be called for camp which will be continued for three weeks in Lahore.
Head coach Olympian Khawaja Junaid, when contacted, said that most of the players likely to be part of the training camp were in Pakistan. A few are playing in foreign leagues. He said the training camp had been postponed from March 1 to 5 due to participation of 20-22 players in the ongoing all-Pakistan tournament in Khushab.
“It is a big tournament with eight departmental and three divisional teams participating. The players are getting good match practice,” said Junaid. “Thus, we decided to call the players after the tournament,” he added.
He said that during the second phase, the team management would work on the hockey skills of the players, agility, endurance, team work, and attacking and defensive abilities. The head coach said that there would be training sessions in morning and evening but if needed a third session for aerobic and power training could be added.
Junaid said that there would be some new players in the training camp who could be future stars. He said that besides the seven juniors who visited Germany and the Netherlands a few other other players would also be part of the Pakistan team keeping in mind the future requirement of Pakistan hockey.
“We have selected a bunch of talented players at both senior and junior levels. They need some time and tough competitions,” Junaid added.
He said that national selection committee kept an eye on the performance of each player in the training camp.
“The chairman national selection committee Manzoor Junior came daily in the pervious training camp and the selection committee knows the ability of each player. They consulted with us and gave weightage to our opinion in the selection process,” said the head coach.
