KARACHI: After ignoring the senior players for the upcoming Azlan Shah Cup, to be played in Malaysia from May 6, the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) awarded them with the A category contracts for a period of three minutes here Monday.

The Sports Encounter has learnt that a total of 25 players have been given the central contracts by the PHF, dividing them in three categories, i.e. A, B, and C. Players who are included in A category would receive a stipend of Rs50,000, under category B they would get Rs40,000 while C category players would receive Rs30,000 per month.

After a review of the performances, the PHF would decide about the future of the central contracts after three months.

As per details, Zeeshan Ashraf, Sohail Abbas, Shakeel Abbasi, Rehan Butt, Waseem Ahmed, skipper Mohammad Imran and Waqas Sharif have been given A category contracts.

Haseem Khan, Mohammad Irfan, Fareed Ahmed, Shafqat Rasool, Mohammad Rashid, Mohammad Rizwan and Mohammad Zubair have been placed in B category contracts.

Umer Bhutta, Nasir Ahmed, Akhtar Ali, Imran Shah, Imran Butt, Kashif Ali, Mohammad Tauseeq, Abdul Qayyum Dogar, Aamir Shehzad, Mohammad Kashif and Zeeshan Ali have been awarded central contracts under C category.