Pakistan hockey players having poor endurance level, says Samiullah
Former player, Samiullah, felt that the Greenshirts were lacking in stamina, considering the recent disappointment of finishing last in the Rabo Four-Nation hockey tournament that was commenced at Amstelveen's Wagener Stadium in Netherlands from June 29
– July 2.
According to the hockey legend, Pakistan hockey players had low fitness levels to match up with their three world class opponents, Germany, Australia and Holland at the tournament.
He laid emphasis over the presence of the veteran players in the team. He also said that despite their commendable competency they will not be suitable for the upcoming events like the Champions Trophy in December and later the 2012 London Olympics.
According to him, these events will have matches scheduled back-to-back that will be hard for these senior players to play. Conclusively, the team with a low physical stamina will not turn up with good results at the Champions Trophy as well as the Olympics.
Pakistan played three matches and did not win any of these with one draw against England 2-2 and two losses from Germany 2-1 and Holland 4-0, respectively.
Samiullah commented, “Top international teams featured in Rabo Trophy and it was not an easy task to perform well in the event. But if Pakistan really wants to do something extraordinary in Champions Trophy and Olympics then these are the teams that Pakistan
will have to beat to claim any worthwhile results there.”
In order to do that Samiullah recommended that Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) still has five months before the Champions Trophy, in which it can engage some young talents into the team in place of the senior ones that lack the required endurance level
for the next events.
This is the reason that at the beginning of Europe tour, the team outperformed with the Dublin Four-Nation title win that concluded on June 26 in Dublin, Ireland. Afterwards, there was a gradual decline in the performance in Netherlands when they first met
a draw and then two defeats.
He emphasised that the current players are too old to give a consistent performance and admitted the fact that the present national team lacks the potential to show results at the approaching competitions.
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