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Pakistan also rest seniors

October 15, 2003 16:24 IST

The Pakistan hockey team will be without four senior players at the Afro-Asian Games in Hyderabad later this month.

Penalty-corner ace Sohail Abbas, goalkeeper Ahmad Alam, forward Shabbir Hussain and centre-forward Kashif Jawad have been left out of the 16-member squad.

A surprising inclusion is that of Tariq Imran, who will replace Sohail.

Tariq was among the standbys for the Champions Trophy but left the training camp without the team management's permission and was not considered for the Asia Cup.

Mohammad Qasim will replace Alam in goal while Tariq Aziz, captain of the junior team, and another junior, forward Akhtar Ali, have been inducted to the team.

The team will leave for India via Dubai on October 20.

Tahir

Zaman and Asif Bajwa have been named coach and assistant coach respectively, and former Pakistan ace Hassan Sardar manager.

Pakistan's recently-appointed Dutch coach Roelant Oltmans will also be with the team at the Games.

The team:

Goalkeepers: Salman Akbar, Mohammad Qasim.

Defenders: Ali Raza, Zeeshan Ashraf, Tariq Imran.

Half-backs: Ghazanfar Ali, Mohammad Saqlain, Waseem Ahmad (vice-captain), Adnan Maqsood.

Forwards: Mudassar Ali Khan, Rehan Butt, Shakeel Abbasi, Mohammad Nadeem (captain), Salim Khalid, Tariq Aziz, Akhtar Ali.

Officials: Hasan Sardar (manager), Tahir Zaman (coach), Asif Bajwa (assistant coach), Derek Verder (physiotherapist).