ISLAMABAD: Fifty-three out of 60 probables announced earlier reported at the two-week hockey camp which started on Tuesday here at the Naseer Bunda Hockey Stadium ahead of the upcoming Asia Cup. The Asia Cup is scheduled to be held in Bangladesh from Oct 12 to 22.

Though head coach Farhat Khan failed to attend the camp on the first day, his deputy former Olympian Shafqat Malik imparted training to players.

Talking to Dawn at the camp, coach Shafqat said that special attention would be given to physical fitness during the training camp. “Players have to be super fit for wining mega event like Asia Cup for which we are trying to improve their fitness levels,” he maintained.

He said that he was optimistic about favourable results in the Asia Cup, stating: “We will try our level-best to make it to the final of the event.”

India and Malaysia could be a major challenge for Pakistan, remarked the coach who said that efforts would be made to get a foreign tour to play against any Asian team before departure for Bangladesh so that players, he added, could get a chance of playing against any Asian team.

When asked about poor showing of Pakistan team in the World Hockey League, the former centre-half said that the WHL defeats had demoralized players.

“But the players have to forget about their poor showing in World Hockey League and should focus on their next assignment,” he added.

Published in Dawn, July 26th, 2017