Pakistan’s Junior Hockey Team optimistic to retain Asia Cup
In quite a splendid way, the Pakistan’s Under-18 Hockey squad is continuing its best performance and moved into the semi-final stage of the ten-nation Junior Asia Cup that is underway in Singapore.
The junior team from Pakistan not only won all the group matches, but with a great margin and established strong domination in the tournament. Besides this, the Pakistani youngsters also rejected the impression that they did not have high competence.
The coach of the junior squad, namely Rana Mujahid, also applauded the role of youngsters saying that they ruled out all the dismantling thoughts. He further stated that the team was flying on a high space, as they trounced the in-form and experienced line-up
of the home country.
Expressing hopes, the coach further said that their main objective was to hold back the title of the ten-nation cup. He stated, “This performance is a perfect answer for our critics. Our aim was to defend our crown and we hope to continue the good form in
the next matches as well.”
In his views the team was quite impressive in the attack but had some weaknesses in part of the defence. He was of the opinion that they would have to overcome their weak areas at the earliest. He expressed his hopes saying “I am very pleased that going
forward we are a real threat, but still there are some serious defensive frailties that need to be addressed.”
The trainer added that the players were facing weariness due to hot and clammy weather conditions. However, they would prevail over this condition with a one-day rest.
It is vital to mention here that the junior team scored 41 goals in the last three games while did not concede any single goal thus far. In the opening game of the Junior Asia Cup, they thrashed Taiwan by a commanding 17-0 margin. In the second game, the
youngsters from Pakistan scored 18 goals against Brunei, while holding them goal-less throughout the two periods. On the way to the knockout stage, they cruised past the host Singapore by six goals and booked a place in the semi-final round. The match played
on June 21, 2011 was another impressive performance from Pakistan’s junior team into the ten-nation tournament.
Though the host team of Singapore was quite experienced and in-form, they failed to touch the scoreboard in the 70 minutes. In the unilateral action, the Junior Greenshirts scored two goals in the first half and added four in the second. Bilal Qadir of Pakistan
marked a wonderful hat-trick and played a vital role in the victory. Waseem Abbas and Arsalan Qadir added two and one goal respectively in the triumph.
The Pakistani junior side will play final group match of the event against Kazakhstan on June 23, 2011.
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