ISLAMABAD: Senior hockey player Shakeel Abbasi while defending the performance of the green-shirts in the recently-concluded Asian Games said that the way the team performed in the mega event made it amply clear that the national game had a bright future.

“Throughout the tournament except for the final we remained unbeaten. We scored 27 goals which is an outstanding performance,” remarked the star centre forward.

Speaking to Dawn on Sunday, Shakeel bemoaned the fact that Pakistan got very few opportunities in term of playing international events particularly in their own country.

“Before the mega event we had only been able to participate in the Asian Trophy held last year. So, under the given circumstances our performance was up to the mark in the Asian Games,” commented the former captain and added that had Lady Luck smiled on them during the final they could have won it.

He said other teams particularly India and Malaysia featured in a number of international matches before participating in the Asian Games.

The arch-rivals displayed brilliant game during the final that ended in a 1-1 draw leading to a shootout which India won 4-2.

“India defeated us on plenty strokes where luck maters a lot than techniques,” he said.

The star forward admitted that the green-shirts missed at least two open chances in the final, adding that Pakistan managed to defeat India 1-2 in the group stage.

“Having defeated India in the group match, our morale was quite high and we were optimistic to inflict another defeat on India in the final but we failed to do so,” he bemoaned.

Talking about goalkeeper Imran Butt who performed brilliantly in the semi-final but failed to repeat his performance in the final, 31-year-old Shakeel said: “He defended brilliantly throughout the tournament and kept the opposition at bay. He also brilliantly stopped penalty strokes in the semi-final. But I think the Indian team had deeply observed his techniques in the semi-final and managed to counter him in the final.”

On the other hand, he said, the green-shirts could not get an opportunity to observe Indian goalkeeper Sareejesh’s techniques.

Shakeel further said that the team had got over the failure to qualify for world cup particularly after showing brilliant performance in the Asian Games. “We are now expecting good result in the upcoming Champion Trophy,” he concluded.

Published in Dawn, October 13th, 2014