September 30, 2008	Tuesday	Ramazan 29, 2008

LAHORE, Sept 29: Pakistan Hockey Federation secretary Asif Bajwa said on Monday they were not expecting a miracle from the team at the Hamburg Masters hockey tournament.

“We must be realistic that we are currently at the eighth spot in the world rankings and there are ten new players in the team. It must be unfair to demand good results from the team,” he said prior to his departure with the team to watch the tournament in Germany.

The PHF official said the main aim of sending the team mostly comprising junior players was a step forward in rebuilding the team and to end reliance on senior players who failed in the Beijing Olympics.

“What to say about the present standard of our team, it lacks in all the departments and for us it is working from nowhere to come up with a suitable combination to fetch desired results in next four years,” he said.

Bajwa added, “The task given to the PHF when hockey is in shambles is challenging and resolute efforts with greater determination are needed to embark on a journey which is rough and uneven.”

The former player said a team which was on the eighth position with mostly new players could not give tough times to strong teams like Olympic champions Germany, Belgium and Malaysia.

He said, “We just want to give some good experience to the players and to expose them to high quality hockey.

“I would say it is our first step to evaluate performance and if we are able to find three to four players we will be lucky enough to have a good beginning in the first phase of the rebuilding process.”

He said there were no plans to associate a foreign coach with senior or junior squads and the services of a foreign coach would be hired only to look after academies and to identity new talent besides grooming local coaches. —APP