The Pakistan Hockey Federation has invited nine more players for the ongoing training camp for the build up of the team to take part in the Azlan Shah hockey cup being played in Ipoh, Malaysia from March 9-17. “We have called new players in order to fill the gap caused by injuries to players and fitness problems some players are facing “,said Chief coach and manager of the team, Akhtar Rasool while talking to APP here on Wednesday after a training session of the team. The invited players are. Mazhar Abbas, Fahad Afridi, Aamir Shahzad, Sabtain Raza, Rana Umair, Muzammal Bhatti, Arslan Qadir, M Suleman and Mohammad Imran Junior. He said with the induction of new players the overall strenght of the players will rise to 30 from 21. “ We want to ensure every measure to select a balanced combination for producing desired results in the Cup and we are confident the new players will give a good account of themselves by showing promise during the camp training “,he said. He said only fully fit players will be selected in the final squad and no compromise will be made on fitness and form. “ Every player, no matter how much useful he is for the team, has to meet the laid down criteria of selection and our long duration camp will help in picking up the most outstanding players for the team “,he added.
