Hockey Update: Greenshirts looking to revive past glory of hockey
Pakistan Hockey, which had ruled on the fields of hockey for decades, is looking to revive the past glory of the game in the country. Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) is considering many plans to lift the players’ performance prior to the London Olympics.
After a historic victory in the 16th Asian Games held in Chinese city of Guangzhou, Pakistan is looking more triumphs in the bigger tournaments particularly the Champions Trophy and the 2012 London Olympics.
The Greenshirts have acquired three editions of the Olympic Games; however failed to win any single medal in the last four versions. Pakistan’s hockey team, which had won the Olympic Games back in 1984 in Los Angeles, was facing tough time of the history
in the previous years.
However, the gold medal in the Asiad was the first major title since 1994 World Cup, which swept joys across the country. Hockey fans are also hoping a medal in the London Games, which are scheduled to be held in 2012.
The Greenshirts will have to make an enormous effort to become victorious in the London Gala as they are standing far behind from the top squads including Spain, Germany, Australia and Holland. Hockey, the national sport of Pakistan is going down with every
passing day.
Pakistan hockey team will have to prepare itself for the tough competitions if they want to climb the peak.
Asif Bajwa, the Secretary General of the PHF while talking to the media said that they were struggling for last two decades to revive the past glory of the sport and succeeded at last in last November in the forms of Asiad gold medal. He was of the view
that the gold medal in the Asian Games was a first step in this regard and they are looking more victories in the major events.
Bajwa stated, “We have put ourselves on the road to revival by winning the Asian Games title and are now setting our sights on doing well in the 2012 Olympics and the World Cup to be played in 2014.”
The federation is mulling to arrange forty to fifty international competitions of the Pakistan hockey team against top level teams in order to prepare it for the 2012 London Games. The first step in this regard would be a trip to Egypt followed by a home
series against high-profile teams. A visit to Europe, the Champions Trophy and a trip to Australia are also lying ahead in the way to the Greenshirts in the year of 2011.
The Secretary General of the PHF further stated, “We’ll start out build up for the Olympics soon by sending our team to Egypt. It will be followed by hectic assignments both at home and abroad which we believe will help us in raising a balanced team
for the Olympics.”
Bajwa opined that they wanted to prepare a 25-member squad by the end of 2011, which would be helpful for picking out the final team for the Olympics Games.
However, there are some hurdles in the way to the Greenshirts in this regard. The first one is that the chief coach of the team, Michel van den Heuvel has not confirmed his availability with the team for future. According to his last statements, he had some
reservations over the security situation in the country, but no final decision came in this regard thus far.
Following the historic victory in the Asian Games, the PHF decided to extend the contract of Dutchman till 2012 London Olympics as he had played vital role in the triumph of the Greenshirts.
On the other side, Asif Bajwa has hoped that the Greenshirts would contest the Olympics under the supervision of Dutchman and would bear fruitful results for the country.
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