ISLAMABAD: Pakistan hockey team captain Abdul Haseem Khan on Tuesday said that the green-shirts should not be concerned about playing against India in the upcoming World Hockey League (WHL) semi-final round starting in London from June 15.

Pakistan team would also be playing a three-match series against Ireland in June as part of their WHL preparations with greenshirts facing hosts Ireland on June 1 in the fast match followed by two others on June 2 and 4, respectively.

Talking to APP, ace striker Haseem, who was part of the gold medal-winning team at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, said if Indians were hesitant in playing against Pakistan the greenshirts should not be concerned about it.

Nonetheless, the captain said that fans all over Asia wanted to see Pakistan and India play against each other, adding sports and politics must not be intermingled.

“The series against Ireland would help us adjust to the conditions,” maintained Haseem, adding that the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) was making all-out efforts for the promotion of the game.

“The PHF is also in talks with other stakeholders in connection with providing jobs to players which is a very good step on their part,” remarked the captain who said the greenshirts would try their level best to qualify for next year’s World Cup.

Published in Dawn, May 17th, 2017