KARACHI: Pakistan will make at least half a dozen changes in their Asia Cup hockey squad to be named on April 22.
A quartet of senior players including drag flick ace Sohail Abbas will be recalled for the May 9-16 Asia Cup to be played in Kuantan, Malaysia. Sohail and three other senior players — Waseem Ahmed, Rehan Butt and Salman Akber — missed the ongoing Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Ipoh (Malaysia) because of their club commitments in the Netherlands.
The four players are all set for a comeback in the national team for the eight-nation Asia Cup, which the Pakistani hockey officials label as their biggest assignment of the year.
In addition to the experienced quartet, Pakistan are also mulling the option of making a few more changes and bringing in a couple of players from the national junior squad that is currently preparing for the Junior World Cup to be jointly hosted by Malaysia and Singapore this June. “We are keeping all our options open for the Asia Cup,” Shahid Ali Khan, the Pakistan coach, told Arab News.
“Asia Cup is our biggest assignment of 2009 and only the best players will be representing Pakistan in it,” stressed the coach referring to the fact that a title win in the Asia Cup will get Pakistan a direct spot for the 2010 World Cup to be played in India.
“We will conduct trials on April 22 and there is a big possibility that there will be around six or more changes in the team for the Asia Cup,” he said.
“We are looking forward to the return of the four senior players especially Sohail Abbas. His return will bolster our short corner department, one area in which we have been struggling a bit.”
Pakistan will return home early next week from Ipoh and will resume training for the Asia Cup by attending a preparatory camp that will begin from April 20 at the National Hockey Stadium in Lahore. Trials will be conducted two days later to select the Asia Cup squad and a few reserve players. Pakistan have been placed in what is a tough Pool B of the Asia Cup along side defending champions India, China and minnows Bangladesh. Top seeds South Korea head Pool A that includes Malaysia, Japan and Oman. The tournament features eight teams following the International Hockey Federation’s (FIH) decision to reject the Asian Hockey Federation’s proposal to promote the third and fourth-placed teams from the AHF Cup together with champions Bangladesh and runners-up Oman.
The top two teams in the groups will qualify for the crossover semifinals. The champions gain an automatic berth to the 2010 World Cup finals in New Delhi and the next four teams will go into qualifying tournaments, tentatively set to be held in November at three venues — Lille (France) and Auckland (New Zealand) and Dubai (UAE).
The Asia Cup was initially supposed to be played at the brand new Dubai Sports City after being awarded to United Arab Emirates (UAE) by the AHF in its last year’s meeting held in the South Indian city of Hyderabad. The idea was to enable the establishment of a major hockey centre in the Gulf. UAE hockey officials had planned to host the tournament at the brand new Dubai Sports City.
However, the UAE hockey authorities informed the AHF last month that they will not be able to host the tournament after which it was switched to Malaysia.
