Tag: Pakistan Hockey

LAHORE: Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) selection committee on Friday, unveiled an 18-member squad for the upcoming Asian Hockey Champions Trophy, scheduled to take place from August 3 to 12 in Chennai, India.

According to the details, the 18-member squad with seven stand-by players were finalised after the conclusion of two-day trials and was approved by PHF President Brigadier Khalid Sajjad Khokhar.

Umar Bhutta will continue to lead the national men’s hockey team while Abdul Waheed Ashraf will serve as his deputy in the Asian Champions Trophy.

The recently-announced squad includes Akmal Hussain, Abdullah Ishtiaq Khan, Muhammad Abdullah, Muhammad Sufyan Khan, Ehtisham Aslam, Osama Bashir, Aqeel Ahmed, Arshad Liaquat, Muhammad Imad, Abdul Hanan Shahid, Zakaria Hayat, Rana Abdul Waheed Ashraf (vc), Muhammad Umar Bhatta (c), Roman, Muhammad Murtaza Yaqub, Muhammad Shahzaib Khan, Afraz and Abdul Rahman.

Meanwhile, Ali Raza, Muhammad Baqir, Muhammad Nadeem Khan, Abdul Wahab, Waqar Ali, Muhammad Arsalan and Abdul Qayyum have been included in the stand-by players’ list.

Last month, the Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) unveiled the schedule of the upcoming Asian Hockey Champions Trophy.

As per the statement released by the AHF, the six-team tournament will run from August 3 to 12 in Chennai.

The tournament will begin with Korea and Japan playing the first game, while hosts, India will play the third game of the opening day when they take on China.

The six-team tournament will see Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, Japan, China, and India battle it out for top honours. All the participating teams are placed in one pool and the positions on the points table will be decided by a league system.

Pakistan will start their Asian Hockey Champions Trophy campaign against Malaysia on August 3 before taking on Korea on August 4, Japan on August 6 and China on August 7.

The green shirts will then lock horns with arch-rivals India in their last round fixture on August 9.

The final of the Asian Hockey Champions Trophy will be held on August 12.

Notably, Pakistan and India are the most successful sides of the tournament, having won the title thrice each while Korea will participate in the upcoming edition as the defending champions, who won the previous edition in 2021.

The training camp of the shortlisted players for the national team to participate in the upcoming edition of the Asian Hockey Champions Trophy was held at National Hockey Stadium, Lahore.

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KUALA LUMPUR: The Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) on Friday, unveiled the schedule of the upcoming Asian Hockey Champions Trophy.

As per the statement released by the AHF, the six-team tournament will run from  August 3 to 12 in Chennai.

The tournament will begin with Korea and Japan playing the first game, while hosts, India will play the third game of the opening day when they take on China.

The six-team tournament will see Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, Japan, China, and India battle it out for top honours. All the participating teams are placed in one pool and the positions on the points table will be decided by a league system.

Pakistan will start their Asian Hockey Champions Trophy campaign against Malaysia on August 3 before taking on Korea on August 4, Japan on August 6 and China on August 7.

The green shirts will then lock horns with arch-rivals India in their last round fixture on August 9.

The final of the Asian Hockey Champions Trophy will be held on August 12.

Notably, Pakistan and India are the most successful sides of the tournament, having won the title thrice each while Korea will participate in the upcoming edition as the defending champions, who won the previous edition in 2021.

Notably, the training camp of the shortlisted players for the national team to participate in the upcoming edition of the Asian Hockey Champions Trophy is currently underway at National Hockey Stadium, Lahore.

Earlier, the junior national hockey team participated in the Asia Cup where they reached the final.

Pakistan finished as the runners-up of the Junior Hockey Asia Cup after falling to a 1-2 defeat against arch-rivals India in the blockbuster final.

Heading into the blockbuster final, both India and Pakistan were unbeaten in the continental event.

The arch-rivals have so far come face to face in four Junior Hockey Asia Cup finals with India winning on three occasions – 2004, 08 and 23 – while the green shirts emerged victorious once in 1996.

Furthermore, before this year’s tournament both Pakistan were level as the joint-most title-winning sides (3) but India’s latest title victory propelled them to the record title holder of the Asian event.

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LAHORE: Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) on Thursday appointed the renowned Dutch coach Roelant Oltmans as the consultant to their national team for the Junior Asia Cup 2023. 

According to PHF, Oltamans has been contracted for the Junior Asia Cup only which is scheduled to take place between May 23 and June 1 in Salalah, Oman.

The 68-year-old has previously coached Pakistan national hockey team twice in the past in 2003 and 2018.

Besides Oltmans, the coaching panel also includes Olympian Hanif Khan (manager), Adnan Zakir International, Olympian Mudassar Ali Khan, Asif Ahmed Khan International, Olympian Zeeshan Ashraf, Rana Zubair (drag flickers coach) and Mazhar Abbas International (goalkeepers coach).

It is pertinent to mention here a total of 10 teams, split into two pools, will be competing in the upcoming Junior Asia Cup.

Pool A comprises Pakistan, India, Japan, Thailand, and Chinese Taipei, while Pool B consists of Korea, Malaysia, Oman, Bangladesh and Uzbekistan.

Pakistan play their opening match against Chinese Taipei on May 23 before facing Thailand on May 24, India on May 27 and Japan on May 29.

The tournament serves as the qualifying round for the Junior Hockey World Cup 2023 as the top three teams from Junior Asia Cup will qualify for the megaevent in Malaysia later this year.

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Pakistan men’s hockey player Hanan Shahid secured a major achievement to his credit as he was named the Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) Emerging player of the Year on Friday. 

According to the details, Lahore-hailed Hanan clinched the prestigious award at AHF Congress in Korea for his outstanding performances in Men’s Junior Asia Cup, Men’s Asia Cup 2022 and other events.

The youngster was also named the AHF Athletes Ambassador.

It may be noted here that Hanan is the son of former Pakistan hockey international Mohammad Shahid.

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LAHORE: The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) on Tuesday imposed a lifetime ban on former team manager and Olympian Khawaja Junaid.

According to the PHF, the decision was made by the inquiry committee, founded to investigate the Pakistan team’s costly error during the Asia Cup match against Japan in 2022 when the green shirts fielded 12 players instead of 11.

Due to the blunder, the national team had a crucial goal disallowed against Japan and ended up on the losing side, which, consequently seized Pakistan’s expedition to qualify for the World Cup.

Notably, Pakistan needed to make it to the Super Fours of the continental event but could only finish fifth in the six-team tournament after beating Bangladesh in the rankings match.

Meanwhile, in an official statement, PHF stated that Junaid’s blunder resulted in Pakistan facing embarrassment, while the decision to ban him is in line with the Federation of International Hockey (FIH) guidelines.

“Pakistan faced a lot of embarrassment due to Khawaja Junaid. Due to his misconduct, Pakistan failed to qualify for the World Cup,” said PHF.

“The decision to ban him has been taken in line with FIH rules,” the statement added.

Meanwhile, the federation also confirmed that PHF President Khalid Sajjad Khokhar also approved the decision of banning Junaid as his mistake was irredeemable.

“The committee called Khawaja Junaid but he did not come. The misconduct of Khawaja Junaid is unforgivable,” said PHF.

“In the light of the inquiry committee’s report, after the approval of PHF President Brigadier R. Khalid Sajjad Khokhar, Khawaja Junaid has been banned for life. Khawaja Junaid will not be able to participate in any hockey activity,” the statement concluded.

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IPOH: Pakistan hockey team clinched their first victory in the ongoing six-team Sultan Azlan Shah Cup on Monday as they beat Egypt 4-1 in their last game of the round-robin stage. 

After two defeats and two draws in the first four matches, the Umar Bhutta-led national side has already lost its contention for the title.

Rana Abdul Wahid opened the scoring for the Green Shirts with a penalty stroke in the 12th minute before Muhammad Sufyan Khan doubled the lead in the second quarter on a penalty corner.

Men in Green aggravated their attack in the third quarter as Liaquat Arshad scored a superb field goal in the 38th minute before Sufyan hit the nets for the second time within the next five minutes to steer the side to a dominant 4-0 lead in the game.

For Egypt, Mohamed Ragab scored a consoling goal on a penalty corner in the 50th minute. 

Following their lone win of the tournament, Pakistan finished in fourth after the conclusion of the round-robin stage and will now take on Japan in the 3rd-4th placing match on November 9 (Wednesday).

Meanwhile, Korea will face the hosts Malaysia in the final on November 10 (Thursday).

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LAHORE: Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) prohibited the national hockey team from participating in Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey as the board refused to grant the no-objection certificate (NOC) for the event. 

According to the details, the federal government had established a standing committee under the presidency of Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif to look after the matters of national sports in the country.

The formation of the committee and until its decision regarding the hockey barred the PSB from issuing any NOC to a player or a team.

Consequently, the SPB refused to issue an NOC to the PHF for the national team’s participation in the upcoming Azlan Shah Hockey tournament.

It is pertinent to mention that the PHF received a formal invitation for this year’s event in June.

The national Hockey team, who last participated in the event back in 2013, has clinched  the championship thrice in the past.

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LAHORE: Pakistan Hockey faced a significant blow ahead of Azlan Shah Hockey Cup as two of its experienced players, Ammad Butt and Mubashar Ali, tendered their resignations, leaving the national team in a deep crisis.

According to the details, the team’s vice-captain Ammad and defender Mubashar sent their resignations, copies of which are available to ARY News, to the Pakistan Hockey Federation, stating their inability to continue with the team due to ‘family commitments’ and ‘personal reasons’.

The resignations are attributed to serious fissures that emerged within the ranks of the national hockey team with both the players suddenly deciding not to play in the current set-up.

It is pertinent to mention here that a training camp for the senior hockey players will commence on September 25 at Abdul Sattar Hockey Stadium in Karachi, after which the national men’s hockey team will be formed.

Pakistan are set to participate in the Sultan Azlan Hockey Cup scheduled from November 1 to 10 in Malaysia.

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LAHORE: The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) cleared the debts of national players after six months, newly-elected president Khalid Sajjad Khokhar announced on Saturday.

The national hockey players received much-anticipated news as the federation cleared their daily allowance debts after a six-month-long delay.

The PHF deposited more than one and a half crore rupees to the accounts of more than 30 players, according to the details.

“The players were not paid their daily allowance for six months. Pakistan Hockey Federation has paid the dues of all the players,” said Khokhar.

It is pertinent to mention here that Khokhar was elected unopposed for a four-year term in the PHF elections held in August this year, along with Haider Hussain as secretary and Shahid Pervaiz Bhandara as finance secretary.

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LAHORE: Saeed Khan has been appointed as the manager of the national hockey team while Siegfried Aikman retained his coaching role as the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) announced the new team management on Sunday. 

According to a press release issued by PHF, Ayaz Mehmood, Mohammad Usman Shaikh, Imran Butt and Mohammad Ali Khan will join the head coach Aikman in the coaching panel.

The statement added that PHF president Brig (retd) Khalid Sajjad Khokhar approved the fresh appointments in the team management.

Abuzar Amrao and Rana Nasrullah have been named as video analyst and physical trainer, respectively.

Moreover, a training camp for the senior hockey players will commence on September 25 at Abdul Sattar Hockey Stadium in Karachi, after which the national men’s hockey team will be formed.

Pakistan are set to participate in the Sultan Azlan Hockey Cup scheduled from November 1 to 10 in Malaysia.

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