Pak hockey officials, players positive for upcoming Asian Games
Pakistan hockey team hasn't lost hope despite its 7-4 thrash by arch rivals India in the recently concluded Commonwealth Games followed by its World Cup defeat. It has now fixed its eyes on the gold medal in the upcoming Asian Games commencing from November
12th, 2010 in China.
Pakistan hockey team hasn't won any major title since long ago and their last major title was the 1994 World Cup. Pakistan had won a hockey gold in Asian Games 20 years back in the same country China and is now hoping to repeat history.
Zeeshan Ashraf, the captain of Pakistan hockey team while talking to the media, said that only gold medal in Asian Games could take them into the Olympics. He was of the view that Asian Games is the most important event for them right now and they are hoping
to revive their fortunes there.
Zeeshan welcomed the comeback of Sohail Abbas, the legendary drag flicker, into the team saying that team chances would increased with his inclusion. He added that Sohail is in good form and surely would help the team win the tournament. The skipper maintained
that players are working to overcome their flaws that were revealed during Commonwealth Games particularly the defence strategy. There are no language barriers during communication with the coach; however he said that the coach should be given at least two
years to fully prepare the squad.
Another team player, Rehan Butt said that Pakistan would have good opportunity to avenge India at a neutral venue as previously it had the home advantage during their last two head to head encounters in the World Cup as well as Commonwealth Games.
He was confident of his team’s performance in the upcoming event despite poor finishes in the last two events, hoping that they would qualify for the 2012 Olympics by winning gold medal in the tournament.
Meanwhile, the recently recalled short corner specialist, Sohail Abbas stated that he is completely fit for the upcoming event and would resume his hockey from where he had left. “I am fit and have been training while I was out of the team”, he added. He
also expressed his desire to win a major title for the country before his retirement from the sport.
Commenting on the training of the team, Ahmed Alam, the coach of Pakistan hockey team, stated that improvement in the technical skills of the team would be the main objective of the training camp. He said, “Technical training and confidence building will
be the main thing that we are going to focus on in the training camp and only those players will be considered for the squad who are in good shape completely. So, there is no guarantee that all these players will be in the final squad”.
He was confident that the addition of three more players in the squad would boost the team performance. He asked the nation to pray for the team’s victory in lieu of cursing them. Ahmad opined that a team could not improve itself without positive approach
and supporting environment.
Apart from the players and officials’ hope for glory in Asian Games, Pakistan as a nation also wants to win a major title soon in order to give boost to the national sport. The performance of the team in the Asian gala will definitely decide the future of
Pakistan hockey, where it will have to win a gold medal to qualify for the Olympics.
National hockey team’s training camp for the upcoming Asian Games started on the other day at Nasir Bunda Hockey Stadium, Islamabad. As many as 23 players reported which included Mohammad Irfan, Zeeshan Ashraf, Waqas Akbar, Mohammad Rizwan Junior, Shakeel
Abbasi, Fareed Ahmed, Mohammad Zubair, Mohammad Imran, Abdul Qayyum, Umer Bhutta, Kashif Shah, Kashif Javed, M. Waqas, Rehan Butt, Sohail Abbas, Mohammad Arshad, Shafaqt Rasool, Mohammad Toseeq, Khalid Bhatti, Abdul Haseem Khan, Imran Shah, Imran Butt and
Mohammad Rizwan Senior.
Tags: