KARACHI: Chief Selector Islahuddin Siddique announced the 18-member Pakistan squad for the Hockey Series Open scheduled to be played from December 17-22 at the National Hockey Stadium in Lahore.
The Hockey Series Open is an International Hockey Federation (FIH) event. Four nations competing in the tournament are Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Nepal.
Since Pakistan has been selected for the FIH Pro League, the high-profile new event starting from early 2019, the Pakistan side here is not the national side and it will enter as the President XI.
Importantly, the matches played by the President XI against the other sides will only be considered friendly games and will not carry any points towards the event. However, the games between the other four sides will carry points.
PRESIDENT XI:
Goal Keepers: Muneebur Rehman, Hafiz Umair. Defenders: Abid Bhatti, M.Ammar, Samiullah, Mubashar Jibran. Midfielders: Usman Ghani, Mohibullah, Ali Raza (Gojra) Asif Hanif. Forwards: Zaheer Hussain, Abdul Mannan, Murtaza Yaqoob, Awaisur Rehman (Captain), Qamar Bhukhari, Arsalan Haider, Zulqarnain, Mohsin Khan. Manager: Shahid Parvez Bhandara. Coaches: Kashif Jawad & Muhammad Shabbir.
