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| May 22, 2005 | Sunday | Rabi-us-Sani 13, 1426 |
Our aim is to qualify for final: coach
LAHORE, May 21: Pakistan hockey coach Tahir Zaman was upbeat on Saturday about the chances of his side in the Azlan Shah Cup starting on May 26 in Kuala Lumpur. Australia will be defending the title in the tournament which also features India, South Korea, South Africa, New Zealand, and hosts Malaysia.
“Our first objective is to make efforts to qualify for the final and then to focus on winning the title,” he said before departure of the team.
The Olympian, actually a junior team coach, has been given the charge of the seniors only for this event since there are 12 junior team players in the squad.
“Majority of the junior players who are now in the senior team will be representing Pakistan in the Junior World Cup and I believe they will gain international experience ahead of the Cup as they did not get a chance to play against European sides after the cancellation of tour,” he said.
He said inclusion of the junior players in the side was part of Pakistan Hockey Federation’s efforts for “rebuilding” the team.
He hoped that juniors would perform up to expectations after their “morale boosting” back-to-back victories in international tournaments.
The coach said in the presence of world’s best teams Azlan Shah Cup would be a “challenging task” for a junior team and even Malaysia were always tough rivals in their own backyard.
“We have worked really hard on this team but we did not get much time to get junior players with the seniors and it could be a disadvantage for us,” he asserted.
The team official said a lot of hard work has been done to improve the physical fitness and condition of players.
“Our performance will reveal how much progress the junior players have made in improving the level of their game and by that way we can determine our chances in the Junior World Cup,” he concluded.—APP
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