LAHORE, Sept 10: The failure of penalty-corner specialist Sohail Abbas is the main factor which deprived Pakistan from playing the final of the Champions Trophy in Cologne, Germany.

Manager of the Pakistan hockey team Col. (retd) Zafar Ali Khan told journalists on arrival Tuesday that the team was expecting a great things from Abbas, but he could not come up to the expectations. Out of 21 penalty-corners Abbas could convert only four.

The manager said that the overall performance of the team was satisfactory and with the same morale it could bring a gold medal in the Asian Games.

He said that victory against India for the bronze was memorable. Describing the worst defeat the team suffered against New Zealand in the Commonwealth Games, Zafar said that there were two factors behind it. The first, the team was not properly warmed up for that match due to lack of preparation.

While replying to a question, he said there was no need to make changes in the team for the Asian Games.