Greenshirts can lift Olympic title, says former Pakistan hockey goal-keeper Abdul Rauf Khan
Abdul Rauf Khan, the former custodian of the national hockey team, anticipated that the Greenshirts have the capability to lift the gold medal in the upcoming 2012 London Olympics.
It is vital to mention here that Abdul Rauf Khan has also served as an assistant coach of the national team from 2005 to 2007. In the meantime, he has also trained PHF (Pakistan Hockey Federation) team to uplift the sport in the country.
The former goalie, while speaking to the media, informed that the progress to regain the past glory of the sport is already underway. He is of the opinion that the government is putting extensive efforts to perk up the level of the sport in the country.
Acclaiming the current administration of the federation including PHF President, Qasim Zia, and Secretary, Asif Bajwa, he stated that their struggles would bear fruit in the revival of hockey in the region. He also commended the role of the government saying
that it had developed an organised infrastructure and provided financial support to build up more hockey centres in the country.
The club-level sport has been improved, as the PHF officials and former Olympians carried out stiff scrutiny in this regard, he added. According to him the federation not only eliminated all the bogus clubs from the country, but also upgrade the standard
of the registered hockey academies. In his views, the successes at the national level helped the sport for promotion at a gross root level. The former goal-keeper added that the young generation would inspire from the national squad, as it lift the major international
events.
Abdul Rauf Khan continued to praise the efforts and struggles of Captain Tariq Hayat and Syed Zahir Shah, the President and Secretary of the PHF Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chapter, saying that they had played vital role in endorsement of the game in the area.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, one of the four provinces, situated at the North Western part of Pakistan has an extensive participation in the federation. It not only produced great names in the past, but is also preparing a fresh talent of the sport, he added.
It is imperative to mention here that the Greenshirts lifted only three gold medals in the last 63 years. It made Olympic debut back in 1948 and clinched the three titles respectively in 1960, 1968 and 1984. It was not anyone else than Pakistan which broke
the continuation of India to win the seventh consecutive title in 1960.
Interestingly, the sub-continent ruled the sport for decades and lifted four Word Cup titles out of the first five editions. However, they lost their grip over the game with the passage of time, while European and Oceania teams, including Australia, Germany,
Holland, Spain, England and South Korea took control of the game.
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