January 29, 2002	Tuesday	Ziqa’ad 14, 1422

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

ISLAMABAD, Jan 28: Manager of the Pakistan hockey team that won a six-nation tournament in Malaysia last week said Monday that Pakistan had gained psychological edge ahead of next month’s World Cup.

Brig. Khalid Sajjad Khokhar felt that although victory would do a lot of good, he made it clear that there shouldn’t be any room for complacency. “Winning this tournament is just the foundation and the real task is the World Cup for which we simply cannot afford to be complacent.”

“Our direction is clear but we still have to do more before going into the World Cup. There are some weak areas that we need to work on and this we’ll do in the camp.”

“All the players played like a team and especially Khalid Saleem, Muhammad Sarwar, Shahbaz Ahmed and Shabbir did remarkably well. “Khalid for whom it was the first major exposure did exceptionally well on the left and I am confident that he’ll be a superstar of tomorrow.” “Sarwar excelled throughout the tournament while Shahbaz also played a key role.”

Khalid sounded happy with the showing of his defenders who conceded fewer goals. “Our defence has improved a lot since the Champions Trophy.”

He said that there were going to be “very few” changes in the team for the World Cup and added that Shahbaz would continue to be in the plans. “We cannot do without him now.”