Pakistan Hockey Team Coach Michel van den Heuvel optimistic in revival of past glory
Pakistan Hockey Team Coach, Michel van den Heuvel, expressed hopes in revival of the past hockey glory in the country. He is committed to take the Greenshirts back at the top and bring back pride of the nation.
It is vital to mention here that the Greenshirts under the training of Dutch Coach, Michel van den Heuvel, improved their status and earned titles for the country. Pakistan lifted the Asian Games’ title after 20 years, held in 2010 in China. Recently,
the Greenshirts secured a silver medal in the last month’s Azlan Shah Cup after it lost to Kookaburras via a golden goal in the second half of the extra-time. Though the Greenshirts lost the second Four-Nations Cup without a victory, but the coach was focusing
on the game rather on results.
These results are enough to boost the spirit of Dutch coach, who is struggling hard to prepare a sparkling squad for the 2012 London Olympics. Pakistan is one of those countries where hockey is considered a quite famous sport, but the ranking of the
Greenshirts is not satisfactory.
Commenting on the expectations from the Greenshirts, Michel said, “They lack sense of reality here. From the moment I was hired they expect us to win every game. During the Commonwealth Games we had to play against host country India which is absolute
number one hockey nation at this moment. Then within 24 hours we had to play Australia. Still they expect us to win easily.”
He rejected the impression that the foreign coach is not in the favour of Pakistan saying that he prepared a mix team comprised of youngsters and experienced players. He was of the opinion that some senior players might not be part of the current line-up
if the foreign trainer had not been inducted by the federation. The players themselves demanded for an imported coach in order to make revival of the sport.
Michel van den Heuvel stated that after taking charge he had eliminated hierarchy from the team, as they were a single unit working for a single aim. The main objective was to end discrimination of junior and senior players in the line-up, he added.
The Dutch trainer opined that the working experience with the Greenshirts was quite different than training Netherlands. The players of the Pakistani team were come from different parts of the country of which some have not had basic facilities in
their native areas, he added. He maintained that they would have to further hone their skills in order to prepare them against European giants.
Following the European tour, Pakistan will play in the Champions Trophy, scheduled to be held in India.
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