Sports Board Punjab’s selection committees, on the directions of Director General Sports and Youth Affairs Punjab Muhammad Tariq Qureshi, conducted the under-18 hockey trials of all divisions at Lahore, Faisalabad and Bahawalpur on Wednesday.
The trials were conducted with the collaboration of Punjab Hockey Association to select Punjab’s four hockey teams which will participate in the upcoming U-18 Youth Hockey Championship being organised at Naseer Bunda Hockey Stadium, Islamabad under the auspices of Pakistan Sports Board (PSB).
The trials of Lahore and Gujranwala Divisions were held at the National Hockey Stadium Pitch-2 under the supervision of Selection Committee comprising - Olympian Khawaja Junaid, Director Sports Chand Perveen and Divisional Sports Officer Tariq Khanzada. More than 110 young hockey players from Lahore and Gujranwala Divisions participated in the trials.
Director General Sports and Youth Affairs Punjab Muhammad Tariq Qureshi said that several talented players have been identified during the trials. “The selected players will be included in Punjab’s four hockey teams for upcoming U-18 Youth Hockey Championship”.
Director General Sports and Youth Affairs Punjab Muhammad Tariq Qureshi informed that the trials of Lahore and Gujranwala division hockey players will continue on April 2 (Thursday) at the National Hockey Stadium Pitch-2. “The members of Sports Board Punjab’s selection committees are selecting U-18 hockey players purely on merit”.
The trials of three divisions - Faisalabad, Sargodha and Rawalpindi - were organised at Faisalabad Hockey Stadium where M Khalid (Olympian), Shafqat Malik (Olympian), Nawaz Dogar (ex-coach), Shabir (Olympian) and Shahid Gill supervised the selection process.
The trials of four divisions - Bahawalpur, Multan, DG Khan and Sahiwal – were conducted at the Dring Hockey Stadium, Bahawalpur where the selection process was overseen by Dr Atif Bashir (Olympian), Haroon Saeed (Secretary Punjab Hockey Association), Umer Bhutta (Olympian), Farooq Ahmed (International), M Arshad (Int’l), Kashif Ali (Int’l) and Abdul Saeed.