April 18 - Pakistan have appointed Khawaja Muhammad Junaid (pictured right) as its new hockey coach after they failed to persuade any of its foreign targetsto move there because they feared the security situation there.



Junaid ,a former captain and member of the Pakistan team that won the bronze medals at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, has initially been appointed only for next month’s Azlan Shah Cup being played in Malaysia but is expected to keep the job longer after Germany's former coach Paul Lissek and two unnamed Australians turned the job down.

Qasim Zia, the President of the Pakistan Hockey Federation, said: "Appointing a foreign coach is our top priority and we contacted a few foreign coaches in this regard but unfortunately we could not negotiate with them as all of them expressed security concerns for taking up the job in Pakistan.

"We have not closed the door and we will be looking into this option and continue our quest to find a foreign coach."

Junaid will be assisted by Ahmad Alam, who played in the 2000 Sydney Olympics, and international player Muhammad Ajmal, Qia said.

Jan Mohammad, also a former Pakistan international, was named as the coach of the national women team which will take part in the Asian Games qualifying rounds.


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