Trials To Find Notch-up Talent For FIH Jnr World Cup Qualifiers From Saturday

Pakistan Hockey Federation's (PHF) two-day open trials to scout young talented players for FIH Junior World Cup Qualifiers will commence on Saturday

ISLAMABAD, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 12th Sep, 2019) :Pakistan Hockey Federation's (PHF) two-day open trials to scout young talented players for FIH Junior World Cup Qualifiers will commence on Saturday.

"The trials will provide an opportunity to promising players to come to limelight and become part of the national junior team that will feature in qualifiers in June, next year," Chairman Selection Committee, Manzoor Hussain Junior told APP.

The trials will be held simultaneously at National Hockey Stadium, Lahore and Abdul Sattar Edhi Hockey Stadium, Karachi. Players from Punjab, Islamabad and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will appear for trials in Lahore which will be supervised by Manzoor Hussain Junior, Nasir Ali and Khalid Hameed. While the boys from Sindh and Balochistan will appear in Karachi where supervision will be done by Kaleem Ullah Khan, Ayaz Mahmood and Waseem Feroze.

The 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games gold medal-winning captain said that he would ensure merit and would only select top-notch talent. "Only physically and mentally strong boys, who will demonstrate their talent will be picked up for further whetting at a camp, to be set up in Lahore soon after the trials," he said.

He said that only the boys born on January 1, 1998 or after that would be eligible to appear for the trials. "They will produce Family Birth Certificate issued by NADRA (National Database and Registration Authority) before us to take part in the trials.

This certificate is the most authentic document for age verification and no tempering is possible with it," he added.

Manzoor said that it was unfortunate that the trials, which should have taken place a couple of years before were taking place now. "If you see at other nations, they have completed their fifty per cent preparations for these qualifiers. I believe we should have arranged these trials in 1917. Unfortunately, we are late but still it will be our effort to prepare a formidable side by providing rigorous training to the boys." He expressed the hope that a large number of youngsters would appear for the trials. "For me it will be very encouraging if we manage to attract even 400-500 boys for these trials. That will mean hockey is still alive in Pakistan and only sincere efforts are needed to put it back on the track." "We've natural talent for hockey. We've produced several greats in this game in the past. I don't see any reason that we can't do that again,", added Manzoor who also helped Pakistan win 1982 World Cup final against Germany by scoring a historic goal while dodging six opponent defenders.

He said he had met President PHF Brig (r) Sajjad Khokhar and Secretary PHF Asif Bajwa recently and it was heartening that they sincerely wanted to uplift Pakistan hockey through a talent hunt programme. "We have commonality of views to raise the standard of national game. Our past glories in the game will return when we will work together."/395