Former Pakistan Hockey Olympian, Mohammad Usman to coach Myanmar Team
Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) picked up Mohammad Usman, the former Olympian and skipper of the national team, to train Myanmar’s hockey team for the upcoming ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Championship.
Myanmar Hockey Federation (MHF) requested the PHF to help them in their preparations for the mega event, scheduled to commence, on December 18, 2011.
Myanmar is clubbed alongside Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei and Thailand in the five-nation continental tournament.
Having 310 international caps to his credit, Mohammad Usman has a tremendous career in the sport. He also served the national hockey team as a skipper, back in 1998-99.
Speaking to the media before leaving for Myanmar, he offered thanks to the federation for showing confidence in him for the major task.
He was of the opinion that the period given to him to train the squad is not sufficient enough. However, he expressed hopes for bringing positive results in the championship.
He observed, “I have taken up this assignment as a challenge because it is always difficult to produce good results in a shorter time frame. My previous coaching experience with Spanish Club, Santiago Apostol in Ourense city will help me in inspiring the
Myanmar team to a higher level”.
It is worth mentioning here that Mohammad Usman is currently attached with a Spanish Club for a period of two years. The club under his supervision was promoted to Division II from Division III.
He was quite optimistic about improving the level of hockey of the Myanmar’s line-up. He asserted, “It would be my utmost effort to impart the finest points of the game to the Myanmar team to produce good results in the championship”.
Applauding the performance of the Green-shirts in the recently-concluded Tri-Nation Hockey Tournament, he expressed that the triumph against the number-one team will help them in the upcoming international assignments.
Pakistan will now compete in the Champions Trophy as well as the 2012 London Olympics.
Giving credit to the federation’s current officials, Usman informed that the team started earning victories after a long struggle.
The former Olympian also praised the role of hockey academies, saying that they were playing a vital role in preparing the players for the national squad.
Without any doubt, the selection of Mohammad Usman to coach Myanmar’s hockey team is an admiration of his skills and abilities.
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