Lahore, Pakistan national hockey team has been announced and Muhammad Irfan will lead the national hockey team. The inaugural match of the Asian event will be played between Pakistan and Malaysia and Pakistan will play the hockey match against India on 23 October. Muhammad Dilber will be the captain of Under 21 team for the Sultan of Johar Cup and the coaches of both the teams are hopeful with the performance of the teams.
According to the details, Pakistani senior and junior hockey teams will participate in the scheduled international events and they have to show the best performance in the events. The selection committee of PHF observed the performances of the players and their fitness and they announces the squads. The players are selected after three matches series, which are scheduled at Johar Town Hockey Stadium, Lahore. The head of the selection committee, Rashid Junior has done the supervision of the trials along with other selectors including Farhat Khan, Waseem Feroze and Qasim Khan.
The senior hockey team of Pakistan is comprised of the players like Imran Butt, Amjad Ali (Goal Keepers), Aleem Bilal, Muhammad Irfan (captain), Imad Shakeel Butt, (Defender), Rashid Mahmood, Tasawar Abbas, Nawaz Ashfaq, Fareed Ahmed, Touseeq Arshad, Muhammad Rizwan (Halfs), Muhammad Irfan Junior, Umar Bhutta, Arsalan Qadir, Ali Shan, Ijaz Ahmed, Muhammad Rizwan Senior and Abdul Haseem Khan are forwards of the team.
Hanif Muhammad will be the team manager and Khawaja Junaid will be the head coach. Ahmed Alam will be the Assistant Coach and Nadeem Lodhi will be the video analyst. The fourth Asian Champions Trophy will be played at Quanton, a Malaysian city from 20 October to 30 October. In this event, the teams of India, Oman, Pakistan, China, Malaysia and Japan will participate and the opening match will be played between Pakistan and Malaysia while Japan will play against India on the same day. Pakistan will play the second match on 21 October against Korea and Malaysia will play against China. On 22 October, India will play against Korea and China will play against Japan. The biggest competition of the event will be played on 23 October between Indian and Pakistan and captains of both the teams have claimed to win this match. Malaysia and Japan will also play the match on the same day.
There is only one match on 24 October, which will be played between Korea and China and Pakistan team will play the match against Japan and Indian will play against China. On the next day of 26 October, Korea will play against Japan and Malaysia will play against India. On 27 October, Pakistan will play against China while Korea will play against Malaysia. There will be rest day on 28 October and no match will be played on this day.
Two semi finals will be played on 29 October and the match for the fifth and sixth positions will also be played on 29 October. The final of the event will be played on 30 October.
PHF has also announced the Under 21 team to play the Sultan of Johar Cup, which is also scheduled in Malaysia. The selection committee of PHF has selected the players including Ali Raza, Talal Khalid (Goal Keepers), Atif Mushtaq, Hassan Anwar and Mubashar Ali (Full Backs), Imad Shakeel Butt, Abu Bakar Mahmood, faizan, Junaid kamal, Tazeem ul Hassan (halfs), while in the forwards, the players are Muhammad Silber (captain), Shan Irshad, Azfar Yaqoob, Muhammad Ateeq, Bilal Qadir, Mohsin Sabir, Rana Sohail Riaz, Sami Ullah, Muhammad Rizwan and Umar Hamdi. Brig (R ) Mukhtar Farani will be team manager, Tahir Zaman Head Coach, Zeeshan Ashraf and Muhammad Irfan will be Assistant coaches and Zahid will be video analyst.
Sultan of Johar Hockey Cup will be played in Malaysian city, Jahor Baro from 31 October and the final match will be played on 6 November. In this event, the teams of Pakistan, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, and Malaysia and the coaches of both the teams are hopeful to show good performance during these events.
The head coach of Pakistan senior hockey team, Khawaja Junaid said that team is comprised of best available players and Pakistan team can fight against all big teams including India during the tournament. The coach of Pakistan junior hockey team, Tahir Zaman said that the best teams are participating in the Sultan of Johar cup but the Pakistani players are hopeful to show their best performance in the event.