Pakistan squad for 2020 Olympic hockey qualifiers announced
Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) has announced a 19-man squad for the 2020 Olympic qualifiers, following the trials held at Lahore’s National Hockey Stadium.
Pakistan will play two exhibition fixtures against Germany on October 22 and 23 before heading to the Netherlands to compete in the qualifiers against the hosts on October 26 and 27 at Amsterdam.
It is going to be a tough call fall for green squad as Netherlands are third in the world rankings while Pakistan stands at 17th position.
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Pakistan Squad includes:
Waqar (goalkeeper), Amjad Ali (goalkeeper), Mubashar Ali, Rizwan Ali, Ammad Butt (vice-captain), Abu Bakar Mahmood, Moin Shakeel, Tasawar Abbas, Azfar Yaqoob, Rashid Mehmood, Ali Shan, Ajaz Ahmad, Umer Bhutta, Muhammad Rizwan Senior (captain), Rana Sohail, Rana Waheed, Ghazanfar Ali, Hammad Anjum and Irfan Senior (stand by player).
The squad was announced after the trials being observed by the national selection committee comprising of Manzoor Hussian Junior (chief selector), Kaleem Ullah, Ayaz Mahmood, Khalid Hameed, Nasir Ali, and Waseem Feroze. President PHF Brig (retd) Khalid Sajjad Khokhar and Secretary General Muhammad Asif Bajwa were also in presence.
Pakistan has to win both of their matches in order to qualify for the games in Japan’s capital Tokyo. Previously, Pakistan had failed to qualify for the 2016 Rio Olympics.
