The Pakistan Sports Board (PSB), on Thursday, issued No-Objection Certificate (NOC) for national men’s hockey team to participate in the Asian Hockey Champions Trophy, starting in Chennai, India, from August 3.
“The NOC was issued after getting clearance from the concerned ministries and other relevant authorities,” PSB said in a statement.
The Asian Hockey Champions Trophy is one of the major hockey events on the Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) calendar. Besides Pakistan, other participating teams include India, South Korea, Japan, China, and Malaysia.
Pakistan will start their campaign with the match against Malaysia on August 3 with the final of the event to be played on August 12.
Reportedly, Olympian Shahnaz Sheikh will likely be the head coach of Pakistan’s senior hockey team in the Asian Hockey Champions Trophy.
Informed sources said that Shahnaz, who recently joined as a team consultant, has started working with the players.
Sources said that Shahnaz is expected to be the head coach of the Pakistan hockey team with Olympian Rehan Butt his deputy.
Sources connected to the training camp in Lahore said that Pakistan senior hockey team has started practice matches and played against the combined team of Dar Academy and Rana Zaheer Academy. Green Shirts defeated them 4-0. Both academies are considered the strongest hockey teams and nurseries in the country.
Squad
Muhammad Umar Bhatta (c), Akmal Hussain, Abdullah Ishtiaq Khan, Muhammad Abdullah, Muhammad Sufyan Khan, Ehtsham Aslam, Osama Bashir, Aqeel Ahmed, Arshad Liaquat, Muhammad Imad, Abdul Hanan Shahid, Zakaria Hayat, Rana Abdul Waheed Ashraf (Vice Captain), Roman, Muhammad Murtaza Yaqoob, Muhammad Shahzaib Khan, Afraz, Abdul Rahman, while the standby includes Ali Raza, Muhammad Baqir, Muhammad Nadeem Khan, Abdul Wahab, Waqar Ali, Muhammad Arsalan and Abdul Qayyum.
Pakistan’s schedule
August 3 – vs Malaysia
August 4 – vs Korea
August 6 – vs Japan
August 7 – vs China
August 9 – vs India
