Pakistan Hockey Veteran, Salman Akbar returns to prepare for the Europe Tour ahead: Hockey News
Pakistan men hockey team’s star goal-keeper, Salman Akbar, returned back after a foreign two-year commitment to play under a Dutch Club, Laren Club, in the Dutch hockey league. He will be attending the preparatory camp established in view of training the
team for the upcoming Europe Tour.
During the tour, their first appearance will be in the four-nation tournament, which is to be held at the University College Dublin (UCD), in Dublin, from June 20.
Following this, the team will play another four-nation Rabo tournament in Amsterdam from June 28 and a further Test series ahead.
Salman has taken an oath of putting in all that he learnt during this foreign experience and that he will serve his country to the utmost, keeping in view the 2012 London Olympics ahead.
Yesterday, in Lahore’s National Hockey Stadium he commented, “With my experience from the Dutch league, I aim to help my country and serve it in a better and more convincing way.”
He continued that this tour will be very helpful for the Greenshirts in gaining experience for their future encounters with the world class teams.
“Although the upcoming schedule is tough, it will be useful. The European tour will be a mix of wins and losses for Pakistan but this is part of the preparation for the London Olympics. Victory will give us the boost while defeat will help us learn from
our mistakes,” added Akbar.
On the other hand, at the camp, Pakistan Hockey Federation’s (PHF) Chief Selector, Hanif Khan, has not just welcomed the veteran into the camp, but has also intimidated him about the strict grounds of selecting players for the next international meets.
Khan stated the fact that even though Akbar is one of the team’s most experienced players, but it is necessary for each player to prove his fitness for getting selected.
In the meantime, Pakistan’s Olympians belonging to Sialkot were given honours at a celebration ceremony in Cantt Hockey Club’s ground, in Lahore organised by the club itself.
These Olympians included Muhammad Asif Bajwa, currently the Secretary of PHF, Zahid Sheikh, Manzoor Junior, Tariq Sheikh, Shahnaz Sheikh, Waqas Sharif and Nasir Ali.
MPA Ch. Muhammad Akhlaq was called as the Guest of Honour to give away gifts to the hockey legends. International players, who belonged to Sialkot, were also present at the occasion along with Sialkot’s hockey management persons including Pakistan team coach,
Ajmal Khan Lodhi, President District Hockey Association Sialkot, Khawaja Khawar, Coach PHF Hockey Academy Sialkot, Sabir Ali, Haji Jabbar, Malik Waheed, Imtiaz Ali, Sajjad Yazdani and Chairman Cantt Horticulture Department, Zahid Sheikh.
Hockey equipments were distributed to the players and Akhlaq promised of laying an artificial turf at the Cantt Hockey Ground.
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