ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) will be looking to arrange a foreign tour for the national team to evaluate players performance ahead of the FIH Olympic qualifiers taking place either in October or November, team’s head coach Khawaja Junaid said on Thursday.

“Just ahead of these [Olympic] qualifiers we will try to [arrange a] tour to Belgium or Germany for a two- or three-match series. This will help us assess our preparations for the qualifying event,” Junaid told APP.

“During the past one year Pakistan players did not undergo any sort of training. During this period they were totally on rest and have not done any homework,” Junaid lamented.

The national team’s training camp for the Olympic qualifying matches is presently underway at the National Hockey Stadium in Lahore.

“Our four-week training programme for the qualifiers started four to five days ago. However, other hockey-playing nations, who had plans for these qualifiers have been continuously working during the past four years,” Junaid underlined.

“This is a huge gap. Now, we are working on a short-term plan. We’ve identified the best of the best available talent in the country. The players are undergoing rigorous training at the camp, and let us hope for some good display from them.”

Junaid said the players had been told that there was no shortcut to glory, and “they needed to work hard to put up some stunning display”.

“The teams working hard with utmost dedication produce impressive results. Our boys have the potential to stun their opponents but for that they’ll have to work hard and show a real fighting spirit,” the head coach emphasised.

Presently placed at a dismal 17th spot, Pakistan who will be the lowest ranked outfit at the qualifiers will have to beat a top-ranked side to win a place at the 2020 Olympics wherein 12 teams will compete for top honours.

Four continental champions Japan, Argentina, South Africa and Belgium have already received berths for the quadrennial extravaganza, while winners of the 2019 Oceania Cup, taking place in Australia between the hosts and New Zealand from Sept 5-8, will also earn an automatic entry in the event.

As Japan have qualified twice for the event — once as hosts and once as Asian champions — there will be 14 teams contesting at the qualifiers, seven of whom will make the way to the Olympics by emerging victorious. For the qualifiers the teams will be drawn into seven pairs with each pair playing a two-match, aggregate score series.

Published in Dawn, August 30th, 2019