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| April 16, 2003 | Wednesday | Safar 13, 1424 |
Shahnaz pinpoints areas for improvement
ISLAMABAD, April 15: Pakistan hockey coach Shahnaz Shaikh said on Tuesday that having won the Azlan Shah Tournament in Malaysia was all very well but there were certain areas that needed attention ahead of this August’s Champions Trophy.
“Our ratio of misses in the rival 25 area and in our own territory was high in the tournament and that is one of the flaws that has to be tackled in the training camp.”
Shahnaz also pointed to the high number of short corners his boys conceded in the tournament. “We gave away too many penalty corners but we defended well off them, allowing the opponents to score only three goals.”
“Another problem area is the off the ball movement of the players and it has to be sharper. We will also be working on this during the camp.”
Shahnaz suggested that the federation would do well to introduce indoor seven-a-side hockey which helps the players gain agility while improving their off-the-ball movements.
The trials for the four-nation tournaments are slated for May 13 and 14 and the team will leave for Australia either on May 23 or 24.
“These competitions will provide us a good opportunity to test all our plans and strategies with the Champions Trophy in mind. The series against Malaysia before the Azlan Shah Cup was also a great help to us and I am hopeful that the events Down Under will prove equally useful.”
Pakistan are looking to win the elusive Champions Trophy in Amstelveen (Holland) which they last won in 1994, the glorious year in which they also captured the World Cup.
“Winning the Azlan Shah event is good for our hockey but the real task is to bring home the Champions Trophy for which a lot of hard work has to be put in by all of us.”
Shahnaz also said that the players would have to perform consistently in order to retain their places on the team. “There will be no compromise on this.”
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