01 October 2004	Friday	15 Shaban 1425

LAHORE, Sept 30 Pakistan hockey team aims to maintain the victory run when it takes on India in the fourth and last match of the Pakistan leg of the 8-Test series on Friday at National Hockey Stadium.

The last encounter at the Pakistani soil is equally importance for the touring side for availing it as an opportunity to draw level the series 2-2, before the event is shifted to India for similar number of matches.

Pakistan opened up with a 2-1 win at Karachi, followed by 1-4 loss at Quetta but bounced back for 3-2 win at Peshawar to restore one match advantage. "For us the most important thing is to maintain the flow of our victories and by that way we can win Pakistan part of the series and go into the Indian leg with enhanced confidence," said Pakistan's captain Muhammad Wasim on Thursday.

The Pakistan captain said he knew the importance of the match as the Indians would be fully charged to beat us to level the series. "For us the most satisfactory aspect is we are improving and we are definitely a better side and must perform on Friday," he maintained. But he admitted that the team was still showing inconsistency which was a sign of worry. "Sometimes we are too good and other times we are bad and we have to overcome this problem which has always hampered our chances in elite tournaments including Athens Olympics".

Waseem said much also depends on performance of penalty corner specialist Sohail Abbas. "Sohail is an extra support to us and we look forward to him for returning to form to play his due role in team's success".

Pakistan's Dutch hockey coach, Roelant Oltmans was concerned on wasting sitters and urged the players to make amends. "We cannot afford to do it time and again, we have to overcome this tendency and we are focusing on this aspect and I am confident we will show improvement in the Friday's match," he said.

Indian captain and full-back Dilip Turkey said he was looking forward to a thrilling game and was confident that his team was capable of winning Friday's match to level the series.

"We are not disappointed after our loss at Peshawar and I am very optimistic that we have still a chance before we fly back to India to be on level terms," he said. Indian German coach Gerhard Rach emphasised the need to take full advantage from the penalty corners.

India's emerging penalty corner specialist Sandeep failed to make an impression at Peshawar. "Apart from concentrating on penalty corner conversion we need another encouraging performance to win the match to level the series," he said.

TEAMS:

PAKISTAN (FROM): Salman Akber, Nasir Ahmed, Sohail Abbas, Zeeshan Ashraf, Ghazanfar Ali, Imran Warsi, Muhammad Imran, Adnan Maqsood, Dilawar Hussain Bhatti, Waseem Ahmed (Captain), Asim Khan, Imran Khan, Rehan Butt, Mudassar Ali Khan, Kashif Jawwad, Muhammad Shabbir, Shakeel Abbasi, Tariq Aziz, Akhtar Ali, Adnan Zakir.

INDIA (FROM): Adrian D Souza, Devesh Chauhan (goal-keepers), Sandeep Singh, Dilip Tirkey (captain), Harpal Singh, William Xalxo, Viren Rasquinha, Vikram Pillay, Ignace Tirkey, V.S. Vinay, Prabodh Tirkey, Vivek Gupta, Adam Sinclair, Arjun Halappa, Sandeep Michael, Tushar Khandekar, Hari Prasad, Girish Pimpale. Officials: Gerhard Rach (Chief Coach), Jagbir Singh (coach), Sampath Kuma. -APP