Director General Sports and Youth Affairs Punjab Muhammad Tariq Qureshi, in a statement on Tuesday, said that Punjab will field four hockey teams in the U-18 Youth Hockey Championship which is scheduled to be organised at Islamabad in April under the auspices of Pakistan Sports Board (PSB).
Director General Sports and Youth Affairs Punjab Muhammad Tariq Qureshi informed that U-18 hockey trials will be conducted in all divisions of the province with the collaboration of Punjab Hockey Association to select Punjab’s four hockey teams purely on merit. “Punjab Sports Department is taking all essential measures for the promotion of hockey across the province”.
Director General Sports and Youth Affairs Punjab Muhammad Tariq Qureshi said that the trials of all divisions of Punjab will be conducted at Lahore, Faisalabad and Bahawalpur on April 1 (Wednesday). “All the selection committees have been directed to conduct the trials proceedings on the basis of merit and performance of hockey players”.
Director General Sports and Youth Affairs Punjab Muhammad Tariq Qureshi said that the players of Lahore and Gujranwala divisions will appear in the trials at the National Hockey Stadium Pitch-2. “The trials of Faisalabad, Sargodha and Rawalpindi divisions will be organised at Faisalabad while the trials of Bahawalpur, DG Khan, Multan and Sahiwal divisions will be conducted at Bahawalpur on April 1”.
Director General Sports Punjab Muhammad Tariq Qureshi further said that the training camps of all Punjab teams will be organised at Faisalabad and Bahawalpur. “Expert coaches will impart top level training to young hockey players at the training camps so that Punjab players could offer satisfactory performance in the Under-18 Youth Hockey Championship”.
The trials of Lahore and Gujranwala Divisions will be conducted under the supervision of Selection Committee comprising - Touqeer Dar (Olympian, Chairman), Khawaja Junaid (Olympian), Khalid Hameed (Olympian), Khalid Rasool (International) and Ajmal Khan Lodhi (International).
The trials of Faisalabad, Sargodha and Rawalpindi Divisions will be organized at Faisalabad Hockey Stadium where Selection Committee comprising M Khalid (Olympian), Shafqat Malik (Olympian), Nawaz Dogar (ex-coach), Shabir (Olympian) and Shahid Gill will supervise the selection process.
Dring Hockey Stadium Bahawalpur will host the trials of Bahawalpur, Multan, DG Khan and Sahiwal Divisions where the selection process will be overseen by Dr Atif Bashir (Olympian), Haroon Saeed (Secretary Punjab Hockey Association), Umer Bhutta (Olympian), Farooq Ahmed (International), M Arshad (International), Kashif Ali (International) and Abdul Saeed.