LAHORE: Just one day before their first match against Japan in the Asian Champions Trophy, Pakistan hockey team’s senior goalkeepers Amjad Ali and Mazhar Abbas joined the national squad in Dhaka on Monday after getting their visas late on Sunday.

       According to the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF), both the players left for Dhaka in the wee hours of Monday soon after getting the visas late on Sunday and had reached Dhaka.

       The Asian Champions Trophy commences in the Bangladesh capital on Tuesday.

       First, the national selection committee headed by Manzoor Junior had included two goalkeepers of the national junior team — Waqar Ahmad and Abdullah — who participated in the Junior World Cup in Bhubaneswar, India where Pakistan earned a poor 11th place.

       But the below-par performance of the two junior goalies forced the PHF to apply for the visas for the senior goalkeeping duo.

       However, the participation of the senior goalkeepers in Dhaka depends on the permission from the technical officials of the tournament whose meeting was going on when this report was being filed.

       It may be mentioned here that the PHF could not get the visas of goalkeeping coach Ahmad Alam, trainer Abid Amin and physio Aslam due to which the Pakistan squad may face problems during the event in Dhaka.

       Moreover, two Pakistan officials for the Dhaka tournament — Haroon Rasheed (umpire) and Hasan Akhter (technical official) — could not get visas too. It is also learnt that assistant coach Ajmal Khan Lodhi did not accompany the Pakistan squad.

       Published in Dawn, December 14th, 2021