European Tour, road to 2012 London Olympics for Greenshirts: Hockey News
Pakistan hockey team’s captain, Mohammad Imran, yesterday, on June 28, talked to media in Amstelveen, Netherlands, about the development of the men’s squad for the 2012 London Olympic Games.
He said that the team is getting a good learning lesson by playing matches against the world’s best hockey teams in this Europe tour and is headed towards the right direction.
Even though the tour is quite strenuous, it will hopefully turn out fruitful for the Greenshirts. Considering the fact that the weather conditions will be similar to that of the Olympic venue, London, the performance in these competitions will be helpful
for the squad.
Moreover, Imran expects the team to give out their best in the Rabo Four-Nation, which is currently underway at Amstelveen, Netherlands.
He commented, “Although hosts Holland, England and Germany are strong side of the world, but we will give them a tough time and victory will not be easy for them. Pakistan players are in high spirit after winning the four-nation tournament in Dublin.”
Imran felt that the Greenshirts will overpower all the teams at an international level, after looking over the potential and competency in the veteran players of the team like Rehan Butt, Shakeel Abbasi and the drag-flick expert, Sohail Abbas. Moreover,
the less-experienced side of the team is also showing progress during the tour.
The men hockey team’s skipper shared that they are going by a distinctive approach and various combinations to get the best out of the team for the Olympics ahead. He further praised the efforts put in by the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) for promoting
hockey and developing the squad.
In addition to the competitions scheduled for the tour, the team will also undergo a training camp in Europe to help the players secure a spot in the final 18 squad for Pakistan.
According to him, PHF had rightly chalked the Europe tour for the Greenshirts and have met with the demands of the hockey players.
After the Rabo Four-Nation, Pakistan will be playing a series against Belgium and later with some other countries too.
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