Asif Bajwa says, Pakistan junior hockey team’s performance in Junior Asia is acceptable
Asif Bajwa, the Secretary of Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF), seemed satisfied with the performance of the junior hockey team in the recently concluded Junior Asia Cup hockey tournament at Sengkang Stadium in Singapore.
Talking about the semi-final defeat against Korea, Bajwa told that the Greenshirts stifled almost six scoring opportunities which also consisted of some open chances.
“The forwards failed to connect the ball into the cage on a bad day for Pakistan and the payers must work on improving the goal scoring skills,” Asif Bajwa stated on his arrival from Singapore.
He also stated that the team management which consists of Rana Mujahid, Danish Kaleem, Ahmad Alam and Anjum Saeed, for the junior team will remain the same and will complete their period till the Under-21 Asia Cup which will be conducted during in
2012.
Asif Bajwa also said that the team performed wonderfully well in the tournament and their scoring rate was astonishing as they scored 60 goals in the event, while conceded only two goals in six games. The junior players are quite talented and artistic,
but they need more international experience and exposure along with improvement in the play-finishing ability.
Rana Mujahid, the team manager, also looked very pleased at the performance of his athletes and viewed that the boys ended their campaign in a spectacular fashion by winning their match by 6-0 and clinching the bronze medal.
“What is more important for us is that we played really well throughout the tournament. We were just unfortunate to concede two late goals against South Korea (in the semi-final),” Rana Mujahid explained.
Meanwhile the former Olympian and one of the legends of Pakistan hockey, Shahnaz Sheikh, seemed unsatisfied over the junior Greenshirts in the recently held Junior Asia Cup hockey tournament in which they finished at the third place in spite of brilliant
show at the group stage matches.
“It is alarming that our U-18 team, which is the future of Pakistan hockey, failed to defend its Asian Junior Cup title in absence of India and China,” Sheikh stated at the performance of junior team.
The Greenshirts lost to South Korea by 2-1 in the semi-final, but in the third place match, they once again whipped Singapore by 6-0.
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