Veteran forward Rehan Butt and goalkeeper Salman Akbar's chances to return to national hockey team got a big boost when they were announced in a 26-member camp for London Olympics, here on Thursday. The preparation of the team will start from June 26 at Army Sports & Physical Training School Tobe Camp, Abbottabad.
Rehan attended a back up hockey training camp to get the needed match fitness under the supervision of former Olympians Anjum Saeed and Danish Kaleem. Salman who last played for Pakistan in Champions Trophy at Auckland in December last was given a consideration after team conceded as many as a dozen of goals during its recently concluded tour of Europe off the short corners.
Rehan was among a group of eight players who played in a un-sanctioned World Series Hockey in India earlier this year. Pakistan Hockey Federation imposed heavy fines on the players for their participation. Later the PHF President, pardoned them and reduced their respective fines.
"President, PHF, Qasim Zia along with Secretary Asif Bajwa had a detailed meeting with the team management and also sought the opinion and recommendation of the chief selector Hanif Khan before approving the squad for the final phase of team's preparations", said sources in the PHF while talking to APP here on Thursday.
The performance of the team in the tour of Europe was discussed all of them were of the point to include experienced Rehan and Salman in the training camp to draw a combination capable of getting good results in Olympics, they added. Manager and chief coach, Akhtar Rasool insisted the return of Salman to have a choice in goalkeepers as Imran could not perform to a higher level and team conceded a number of goals. They said Rehan can be a good addition in the forward line because of his vast experience and all depends how he performs in the final part of the training.
PHF will named 16-member London Olympic hockey squad in the first week of July. Probables: Imran Shah, Muhammad Irfan, Sohail Abbas, Syed Kashif Shah, Mohammad Rizwan Jr, Fareed Ahmed, Rashid Mahmood, Muhammad Tousiq, Muhammad Waqas, Shafqat Rasool, Abdul Haseem Khan, Mohammad Rizwan Sr., Mohammad Umar Bhutta, Mohammad Khalid Bhatti, Shakeel Abbasi, Ali Shan, Rehan Butt, Waseem Ahmed, Muhammad Imran, Salman Akbar, Tasawar Abbas, Ammad Shakeel Butt, Dilber Hussain, Imran Butt, Muhamamd Zubair and Aamir Shahzad.
Team officials: manager and chief coach, Akhtar Rasool Chaudhary, coaches, Khawaja Muhammad Junaid, Ajmal Khan Lodhi & Shahid Ali Khan. Physio, Faiz ur Rehman and video analyst, Nadeem Khan Lodhi.
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