LAHORE, March 9: Key Pakistan hockey forwards Rehan Butt and Shakeel Abbasi have recovered from hamstring injuries ahead of hockey competition in the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne from March 15.

“Both forwards are actively participating in the training and the way they are playing in the practice matches, it shows they are fully fit,” said coach Asif Bajwa from Melbourne.

The pair were injured during Pakistan-India series and missed the last two matches at home when India visited Pakistan for second leg of the series.

Asif said team management was keeping an eye on the physical fitness of both players and added that they were practicing according to the plan prepared for them to avoid extra load.

“We don’t want to put extra burden on them as we have sufficient time before the start of the games. We want to increase their work load gradually to minimise the risk of recurrence of the injury.”

The coach said the 16-member team was in good shape and players were acclimatising as the weather in the Australian city was warm during day and cold in evening.

Asif said he had limited choice to replace players from the 16-member side and it can what he said “hamper” the game plan if any player of a particular position was changed.

“We are giving final touches to our preparations and hope to be fully prepared in all aspects before our first match against India on March 18,” he said.

For Asif hockey competition of the Games was a “tough” event as world’s “best” teams from four continents were taking part, while weaker opponents would be having equal opportunity to upset their rivals.

“We have drawn up a plan to concentrate on every match. Making tall claims at this stage will not be fair. But we are confident of performing well in the tournament and players have been clearly told not to show complacency,” he said.—APP