ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) is optimistic that national squad will emerge victorious in upcoming Asian Games.

Secretary PHF Shahbaz Ahmed told Dawn that after showing satisfactory performance in recently concluded last edition of the Champions Trophy, the moral of national team is high.

“During champion trophy, we defeated Olympic champions [Argentina] 4-1 in Breda, whereas, we also played brilliantly against other strong teams,” he said and added special focus has been put on team to get good results at the Asiad slated to be held in Indonesia from Aug 8 to Sept 2.

“Our main target is to play the final and win it,” the former player said and added India will be team to beat for Pakistan.

“In the Champions Trophy, the team played very well against India, as during the first 54 minutes Indian team was leading by just one goal up until the 54th minute of the one hour game, and Green Shirts conceded three goals during the last six minutes, mainly because of the change of goal keeper,” he said.

“With the passage of time, the national team has been witnessing improvement in their performance,” Shahbaz said.

In a surprise to many, the PHF’s selected 27 probables, who are undergoing a training session in Karachi for the Asian Games, all belong to Punjab.

Former Olympian Farhat Hassan Khan, who is a member of selection committee told Dawn, that he had no role in selection of team, rather he was surprised to know that all 27 probables belong to Punjab.

“Though, I am member of selection committee but I don’t know, how, these probables were selected,” he said and added that there should be players Sindh and KP at least in training camp.

“Sindh’s player Khizar Akhtar, KP’s Junaid Kamal and Taimoor should have been given the chance to attend the training camp,” he said.

Shahbaz, when asked to comment on process of selection of probables, said: “The chief selector is the concerned person to be asked this question, I would just say that the selection committee and coach Roelant Oltmans are fully independent to take decisions to prepare a balance team for the Asian Games.”

Published in Dawn, July 16th, 2018