KARACHI, April 19: Pinning high hopes on penalty corner strikers - Imran Warsi and Mohammad Imran - Pakistan begin their campaign when they meet minnows Singapore at Junior Asia Cup hockey which explodes into action from Tuesday.
Expected as one of the favourites, Pakistan will have an easy start and are being anticipated to thrash Singapore against whom they have won all the seven matches they have so far played.
The hosts take on Southeast Asians at 3.00pm at Hockey Club of Pakistan (HCP). Apart from hosts and Singapore, the Chinese Taipei, Japan, South Korea will be in fray in Pool 'A', while India, China, Bangladesh, Malaysia and Sri Lanka are in Pool 'B'.
While it is being expected that Pakistan will defeat weaker rivals like Chinese Taipei and Japan in pool matches, they will certainly face first hurdle when they play defending champions South Korea in last pool game on April 25.
And the more the green shirts progress, the harder the resistance they are expected to face, especially against outfits like junior world champions India and Malaysia who will be having German Paul Lissek by their side as consultant.
It may, however, be not that difficult to erase the bitter memories of the previous edition where Pakistan, under manager Jahangir Butt and coach Tahir Zaman, finished a miserable fifth in 2000 in Kuala Lumpur.
The result forced Pakistan to face ignominy as they failed to qualify for the 2001 Junior World Cup in Hobart, Australia, for the first time in history. The reason to be optimistic is that the team is preparing extensively for quite a long time under coach Asif Bajwa, although Jahangir has once again taken helm as manager recently.
Pakistan, to be captained by senior team forward Shakeel Abbasi, have promising forwards in vice-captain Tariq Aziz, Akhtar Ali and Yasir Islam. But having Imran Warsi, Mohammad Imran, Adnan Zakir, Imran Khan will add more firepower to help hosts lift the Cup they won thrice - in 1987-88 (Karachi), 1992 (Kuala Lumpur) and 1996 (Singapore).
However, it is yet to be seen how the short corner experts deliver. Both full-back Imran Warsi and midfielder Mohammad Imran rattled the bar quite a few times during recent four-match home series against Malaysians and Dutch juniors.
And the reason was drills and instructions from Asif to both the players to shoot through a frame at the upper corners of the goal during the training sessions.
Indian coach Harednra Singh had already said his side would not be intimidated by the two Pakistan drag-flickers, saying they needed to prove their worth at the forthcoming event which would be a real test unlike practice games.
Interestingly, Indians, who have developed into a fine outfit in recent times, will also be having services of penalty corner specialist Sandeep Singh who helped his team rout Pakistan 5-0 in a final of a seven-nation tournament, scoring all the five goals in Poland last year.
Sandeep had also been praised by Malaysian coach Sarjit Singh during a series in Pakistan a month ago as he felt the penalty corner specialist would be India's danger man.
If one takes words of Asif and Harendra, Japan and China might prove dark horses of the ten-nation competition which also serves as the qualifier for next year's Junior World Cup in the Netherlands.
Both Asif and Harendra have stated China and Japan were capable of giving a surprise to any side. China showed great resilience during matches against Pakistan Seniors and Juniors last July, while Japan are known for their South Korea-like speedy moves that could torment their opposition.
How the HCP pitch behaves will transpire after the start of the tournament since it is uneven, wrinkled at some places which Japan coach Hideki Numada had pointed out.
Tuesday's fixtures:
Malaysia v Sri Lanka 11.00am; Bangladesh v China 1.00pm; Pakistan v Singapore 3.00pm; Chinese Taipei v Japan 5.00pm.
