Eight players to join camp late, says Junaid

Eight players to join camp late, says Junaid

KARACHI: Olympian Khawaja Junaid, the head coach of Pakistan hockey team, has said that eight players called to the training camp for Azlan Shah Cup were participating in the professional league in Malaysia and would return to the country from February 18-20.

While talking to ‘The News’ on Thursday, he said there were 22 junior players in the training camp, which starts from February 10 in Lahore.

He said that junior players have been included because they would also prepare for the Junior Asia Cup 2020 when they would play with the seniors. He said if any junior performed well in the seniors training camp, he could be considered for the Malaysia tour.

He mentioned that eight junior players were promoted to the senior team last year when the Green-shirts went to the Netherlands for 2020 Olympics qualifying matches.

Junaid said that the training camp would be conducted in three phases. Two phases would be held in Lahore and the third in Karachi, he added. He said that the second phase would be started in Lahore from March 2.

The third phase, in Karachi, would continue until the team’s departure for Malaysia. The head coach said that Sultan Azlan Shah hockey tournament would be a tough event as all other teams are much better in the world rankings. “But the good thing is that if a low-ranked team defeats a strong team, it will get maximum points. But all participating teams are tough and have been playing international hockey regularly. We would have to give the players some time,” he said.

He said that Australia, Canada, Japan, Malaysia, and South Korea were tough opponents and had a lot of international experience. He said that the players would start reporting for the training camp from February 9.

Article source: https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/609950-eight-players-to-join-camp-late-says-junaid