KARACHI, April 11: Pakistan hockey team will be playing as many as ten international matches during their European trip, starting from May 21, Secretary Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) Khalid Mahmood said on Friday.

“Pakistan will be touring Germany, France and Belgium from May 21,” he said. Our team will play four internationals against Germany on the first leg of their tour and three matches each against France and Belgium after the German tour.”

“We want to provide extensive practice to the team in build-up for the Beijing Olympics,” said the former Olympian.

He added that the PHF chief was keen to provide maximum exposure to the players before the Olympics to achieve better results in China. “From Belgium the team will fly to Dublin for the four-nation event to be held in Ireland from June 11-15.

Besides Pakistan, Canada, Great Britain and host Ireland will be taking part in the tournament.

Khalid expressed the hope that by playing against the best European teams such as Germany, Britain, Belgium and Canada, the Pakistan players will have extensive practice for the challenging Olympic Games.

He said after the participation of Azlan Shah Cup in Malaysia, to be held there from May 8-18, Pakistan hockey team will directly fly to Frankfurt for their first leg of European tour.

Responding to a query regarding the preparations of Pakistan junior team for Asia Cup, Khalid said South African tour will be the last assignment of the team before the continental competition. Six top teams from Asia Cup — to be held in Hyderabad Deccan (India) — will qualify for the next year’s Junior World Cup which will be jointly staged by Malaysia and Singapore.—APP