April 29, 2008	Tuesday	Rabi-us-Sani 22, 1429

KARACHI, April 28: Despite the successful tour of South Africa, the Pakistan junior hockey team needed improvement in some areas of the game, manager-cum-chief coach Jahangir Butt said on his return with the team from South Africa on Monday.

The Pakistan junior team had played two matches against Olympic qualifiers South Africa seniors — winning one and drawing one — and defeated South Africa’s under-21 team 4-0 in the five-test series, one match was drawn.

The coach said defeating South Africa teams was a great achievement: “The South African tour was a success as the players put up outstanding performance throughout.

“Winning five matches and drawing the other two clearly reflects the success story of the tour.”

The coach however made it clear that there were some grey areas like penalty-corner conversion and quick ball clearance which they had to improve before July’s Asia Cup in India.

“We converted half a dozen penalty-corners on the tour but we need to polish it further before the Asia Cup,” Jahangir said about his plans for the future assignment.

He appreciated the efforts of penalty-corner strikers Kashif Ali and Imran Abbas and goalkeepers Imran Butt and Imran Shah to help the team win.

“Weak clearance caused us some problems on counter-attacks. We would be working on these areas in the training camp,” he added.

Jahangir Butt said they provided chance to all the players on the tour which would help the team management in finalising the squad for the Asia Cup.

He complimented the forward line for its fighting qualities till the last minute which brought them back in some matches.

Jahangir was also disappointed with the discourteous behaviour of the South African Hockey Association (SAHA).—APP