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| March 16, 2003 | Sunday | Muharram 12, 1424 |
Azlan Shah Cup Shahnaz hopeful of lifting title in Ipoh
KARACHI, March 15: Pakistan hockey squad left early Friday morning for Malaysia with their coach making claims of winning the gold at Azlan Shah Cup which begins from March 22 in Ipoh.
The green shirts will be facing the toughest challenge when they meet world champions Germany in the opener on March 22. However, the six-nation event could not be regarded a major tournament.
But the March 26 encounter against arch-rivals India will be an explosive one, although the Indians are still not being considered one of the best sides in the world.
India, inspired by their veteran striker Dhanraj Pillay and a number of Junior World Cup-winning squad members, had beaten Pakistan 3-2 in last year’s Cologne Champions Trophy league match and outplayed the green shirts 4-3 in the Busan Asian Games semifinal.
Pakistan will also be having an opportunity to acclimatize by playing three-match Test series against Malaysia with the games to be played on March 17, 18 and 20.
“Pakistan won the Azlan Shah Cup under my tenure for the first time in 1999. And I promise to lift the cup again after defeats in the earlier editions,” coach Shahnaz Sheikh said before team’s departure.
Pakistan have only clinched the crown twice since the inception of the tournament in 1983. Apart from victory in 1999, Pakistan retained the title in 2000 but slumped to fourth place in 2001.
The performance of Pakistan goalkeeper Ahmad Alam will also be under close study as the custodian had given one of the worst-ever shows of his career in 2001 edition by concedeing no less than 25 goals.
Ahmad, who was the captain of the side, abrubtly ended his 10- year-long career soon after his and team’s dismal showing, but surprisingly came out of retirement to play in the three major events last year in which Pakistan put up miserable performances.
Not only the matches against Germany and India will be watched keenly, but it is also to be seen how the team fares against New Zealand and Malaysia, who routed Pakistan at last year’s Manchester Commonwealth Games and Asian Games.
Pakistan, under Tahir Zaman’s command were thrashed by Kiwis 7-1 in the Commonwealth Games semifinal. Pakistan again crumbled in the Asiad third place playoff and lost 4-2 to Malaysia on penalty shootout.
“I agree team had a miserable time last year. They were demoralized after back-to-back defeats. But we have tried to raise their morale during the training. I am sure this time we will bring the title home,” Shahnaz vowed.
Schedule:
March 22: India v New Zealand; Germany v Pakistan; Malaysia v South Korea.
March 23: India v Germany; Pakistan v Malaysia.
March 24: Korea v New Zealand.
March 25: Malaysia v Germany; Korea v India; New Zealand v Pakistan.
March 26: Pakistan v India.
March 27: Germany v Korea; Malaysia v New Zealand.
March 28: Korea v Pakistan; Germany v New Zealand; India v Malaysia.
March 29. Rest day.
March 30: Classification matches and final.
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