Almost all players called in the training camp of the Pakistani ice hockey team in Lahore at the National Hockey Stadium.
They will have their first meeting on Saturday (today), said PHF Secretary Olympian Ayaz Mehmood on “The News”. The training camp will be organized to prepare a team for the FIH Pro League, starting later this month. The first game of Pakistan will be played on 3 February against Argentina.
In the morning physical training and in the evening ice hockey is trained. A total of 12 members of the Pakistani ice hockey team who participated in the 2018 World Cup in India last month were not called.
More than 90 percent of the players are juniors. Coach-head coach Saeed Khan is supported by Rehan Butt and Danish Kaleem. The PHF has yet to announce the new selection committee as the body chaired by Islahuddin has ended its term of office.
The Pakistani hockey team is in crisis in all departments – goalkeeper, attack, defense and penalty. Pakistan has not had a good center forward for a long time. Even the Dutch Roelant Oltmans and the Olympic champion Hasan Sardar, who until recently were the guardians of the Pakistani ice hockey team, failed to produce a quality striker.
Assistant Coach Rehan said that Pakistan needs strong, skilled and motivated players in all departments. “We need players not only for the center forward position but also for the right and left wings. There are players who have played against the World XI, against the Canadian national team and in the Australian Under-17 Championship, “he said.
“The old players were left out. We will start working with young players. There are very few players in the training camp that belonged to the World Cup, “he added.
