Announcement of 18 member national squad for Azlan Shah Hockey Cup

Islamabad: Eighteen member national squad for Azlan Shah Hockey Cup has been announced.

The head coach of the national hockey team, Roland Oltmans, along with Deputy DG of Pakistan Sports Board Shahid Salam and Olympian Manzoorul Hasan, representative of the Pakistan Olympic Association, announced the national hockey team at the Naseer Banda Hockey Stadium after the final trials.

Seven reserve players have also been included in the team. Imad Shakeel Butt has been appointed as the captain of the national hockey team and Abubakar as the vice-captain. The national squad will leave for Malaysia on May 2.

Other players include Abdullah, Muneebur Rehman, Osama Bashir, Ehtsham, M Abdullah Sufyan, Salman Razak, Arshad Liaquat, Moin Shakeel, Zakaria Hayat, Murtaza Yaqub, Ghazanfar Ali, Abdul Rahman Senior, Hanan Shahid, Rana Waheed and Ijaz Ahmed.

Speaking to the media, head coach Roland Oltmans says that we have tried to prepare the best team by looking at the current talent, those who are not in the team should work harder, our target is the Nations Hockey Cup.

He said that after Azlan Shah, there can be a change in the team for the Nations Cup, we are not worried about the results of the Azlan Shah Cup, we have to prepare a better team, if the players show good results, we can win the event.