By Ijaz Chaudhry
The Pakistan Junior team participating in the ongoing edition of Sultan of Johor Cup in Johor Bahru includes five players from Dar Hockey Academy, the country's biggest reservoir of hockey talent:
Sufyan Khan (Bannu),Aqeel Ahmed (Khoiwala, district Khanewal), Faizan Janjua (Gujjar Khan, district Rawalpindi), Muhammad Waseem (Peer Mahal, district Toba Tek Singh), Ali Murtaza (Bahawalpur)
Dar HA reaches all parts of the country to select talented players. These five players come from KP, North Punjab, Central Punjab and South Punjab.
Sufyan Khan, who was declared the FIH Emerging Player of the Year 2024, is currently leading the scoring charts at this year’s Sultan of Johor Cup with eight goals. He is also a consistent goal getter for the national (senior) team.
Likewise, Rao Aqueel has been a regular in the national team.
The other three are yet to appear for the national team. Of them, custodian Faizan Janjua put up a brilliant show at the Junior Asia Cup in November/December last year, where Pakistan finished second.
Ijaz Chaudhry writes on hockey & other sports. For more about him & his work, visit http://www.sportscorrespondent.info