Former Pakistan Hockey team skipper Islahuddin Siddiqui asks PHF to test youngsters in Europe Tour
Islahuddin Siddiqui, the most successful skipper of the Pakistan’s hockey team, has suggested the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) to test fresh blood in the upcoming Europe Tour in order to prepare a balanced squad for the Champions Trophy and the 2012
London Olympics.
In a bid to advice the national governing body, the former captain was of the opinion that the squad should develop an understanding and coordination among the players and officials ahead of the 2012 London Games. Commenting on the recent performance of
the Greenshirts in the Azlan Shah tourney, he stated that the national side lost the finals which they shouldn’t. In his views, the silver medal was a great achievement, but they should win the gold medal against comparatively less experienced teams.
He stated, “We did not take a team of juniors for Azlan Shah as is being said. It was really the same set of ‘juniors’ that we see again and again from the pool of 30 to 35 players that the PHF picks the boys from. They are more like seniors who, provided
they are physically fit until the Olympics, are fine as we already know their worth.”
In a bid to add logics to his comments, the former captain opined that they were above in the rankings in the seven-nation invitational except number one Australia and Great Britain. The Greenshirts were more strong contestants as compared to Malaysia, New
Zealand, India and Korea.
If we take a look at the European teams including Germany, Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands, Great Britain is standing at the bottom-line among the strong squads. The defeat from British team meant, we lost from entire Europe region.
It is vital to mention here that Islahuddin Siddiqui was skipper of the Greenshirts that clinched three gold medals including World Cup, Asian Games, and Champions Trophy back in 1978.
In his views, the team lost the final game due to missing many chances in the regular time-period. He stated that the missing opportunities in regular time changed the face of the scoreboard. The current management failed to ascertain the key points behind
the failures, he added.
Islah maintained that the trainers talked about the weaknesses, but did not point out what these really are. He loudly stated that why every time they get the weaknesses after the international fixtures. In his views, the regional and national camps should
be reviewed to determine the weak points of the players.
The former skipper urged the federation to pick up a winning line-up and stick with it until the 2012 London Olympics. A better understanding and coordination among the players would help them to move in a way to revive the past glory.
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