Legendary drag-flicker Sohail Abbas to join Pakistan Hockey
Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) in a surprising move has called back legendary drag-flicker and penalty stroke specialist, Sohail Abbas, into the team prior to the Asian Games.
PHF was stung by poor performances in the recently concluded Commonwealth Games and decided to take the services of the World’s best goal scorer for the upcoming Asian tournament.
The federation is under pressure following the team’s flop in the Commonwealth Games to 6th position and 12th in the World Cup held this year.
World’s leading goal-scorer, Sohail Abbas had been removed from the Pakistan Hockey Federation’s central contract list and was also not picked up for Commonwealth Games as he skipped a training camp before the Europe tour last year. The PHF had also stopped
his monthly payments.
Hanif Khan the Chief Selector of Pakistan Hockey Team expressed that the penalty-corner specialist and legendary drag-flicker is needed in the team for hard competition in the upcoming Asian Games. The gold medal in China will ease the team through to qualifying
process for Olympics 2012, he said.
The federation decided to take back the services of its most experienced player for the upcoming Asian event and called him in the training camp scheduled to start on October 25. The hockey team recently needs an experienced penalty corner striker like Sohail
Abbas, who can lead them to success in the tournament.
The Chief selector was of the view that Sohail’s presence in the team will keep opponents under pressure and performance of the other team members would also be improved. “He is the type of player, who avails the chances and boosts the other players by hitting
penalty corners”, he added.
Pakistan Hockey Federation will evaluate the fitness of Sohail Abbas in the national camp before reinstating his central contract. The federation also called two other players Khalid Bhatti and Abdul Qayyum along with Sohail Abbas in the national camp.
Sohail Abbas is not only the legendary hockey player of the World but he is also the best penalty corner taker in the World as he marked the best eight goals is 2000 Olympics. Out of these eight goals, seven were taken from penalty corners. The all time
top scorer of Pakistan’s team has a phenomenal strike rate of 250 goals in 200 matches. He was also scored the quickest century and double century in the history of international hockey. He is also a good defender, who saves the team from many defeats.
Sohail scored 300 international goals till December 09, 2009 breaking the 22-year old record of Paul Litjens, the Dutch penalty corner specialist. He announced his retirement in December 2004 after the Champions Trophy when he was only 27 years of age. He
decided to rejoin the team and international hockey squad in July 2006. He also played for the Dutch club Rotterdam after his retirement.
This legendary player was also the leading scorer in Olympics 2000 held in Athens with 11 goals and also hit seven goals in the 9th Indo-Pakistan series. He proved himself as the World’s best drag-flick converter with a 65% rate of success. He played a key
role for bringing the medal from Athens Olympics. Sohail scored 13 goals from Pakistan side in Sydney Olympics as leading scorer. He was also the leading marksman with nine goals in the Madrid games.
Zeeshan Ashraf the captain of Pakistan hockey team vowed to take revenge for defeat of the Commonwealth Games from India in next month’s Asian Games in Guangzhou. He said, “Pakistani team would fight for the gold medal in the Asian Games as their legendary
player will join the squad in the event. We have great hopes from Sohail Abbas as he can play a decisive role in the tournament. The other players will also be boosted with the best stroke men”, he concluded.
Pakistan Hockey Federation and the nation are also hoping for best performances from their team in the games, which will also ease their way for the 2012 Olympics.
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