ISLAMABAD, June 23: Putting a brave face on heavy defeats in Australia, Pakistan hockey coach Tahir Zaman says the youngsters fielded in the twin tournaments Down Under had gained much-needed experience.

“The young players have gained a lot in these two tournaments”, the former olympian Tahir Zaman said of the tournaments at Australian cities of Perth and Sydney earlier this month.

Pakistan were wooden spoonists in both the four-teams tournaments, losing to India at Perth and drawing with them at Sydney while the arch-rivals India finished runners-up to Australia at the former competition before winning the latter.

“The young players earlier had the opportunity of playing for brief periods, say five-ten minutes at a stretch”, said Tahir. “But in these tournaments, a number of these youngsters went in for full 70 minutes”.—APP