ISLAMABAD: Olympian Islahuddin Siddique on Tuesday urged the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) to organise youth team tours to Europe in order to prepare them for next year's Junior Hockey World Cup in India.

“After watching the performance of the junior team in the recent Hockey Asia Cup, I can say our team, stands at No 2 position in Asia as they lost the final to India. But they still have a long way to go to be a contender at the world level,” said Islah.

“Pakistan junior team will have to put up a lot of hard work against European sides,” he said.

Islahuddin said PHF should arrange matches against the likes of Australia, New Zealand, Argentina and also the European sides in order to groom its talent.

“A total of 20 to 25 matches should be organised for the team against these sides.”

Islahuddin, who represented Pakistan from 1967 to 1978, said the juniors did not show enough fighting spirit in the final against India.

“Our goal-keeping was very poor and needs improvement.”

He advised PHF to set up a goal-keeping camp to improve this department.

“PHF should call in the expertise of Shahid Ali Khan, Mansoor Ahmed and Ahmed Alam for the camp,” he said adding the full-backs should also be called in for the training camp.

Islahuddin called on the PHF to also focus on the improvement of the the senior team, currently ranked 10th in the world.