KARACHI, Sept 12: Too much strenuous training took its toll, resulting in dismal short corner conversion rate at the Champions Trophy, penalty corner executioner Sohail Abbas said Thursday.

Sohail said lengthy and laborious sessions after the Manchester Commonwealth Games were the cause of his unsatisfactory performance at the Trophy in Cologne, Germany.

“I had trained before leaving for the European tour and did well in the four Tests in Spain and the Commonwealth Games. But extraordinary, continuous, hard training after the Games left me stale,” the 27-year-old full back said.

Sohail, whom the oppositions and the national coach Tahir Zaman consider a deadly weapon, is under spotlight for his poor showing at the Trophy.

The team management has cited Sohail’s inability to convert the penalty corners at the Trophy as major grey area of the side. According to the team officials, Sohail performed below-par, finding the target just four times out of 21 penalty corners.

Sohail said he achieved almost 100 per cent conversion ratio in the series against Spain that Pakistan won 3-0, while in Manchester his rate of conversion was almost 75 per cent.

“Naturally when one trains that hard it would be difficult to execute the short corners with accuracy. I was trying my best at the Trophy but could not overcome fatigue.

“It really takes a great effort and power to slam home a penalty corner. But when the short corner striker is exhausted, it is not easy to find the target,” he said.

Sohail, who has recently switched over from Habib Bank to Wapda, said he had been receiving daily treatment from a physiotherapist for his stiff back and shoulders.

However, Sohail, who has been instructed by Tahir to have rest before the Sept 29 to Oct 14 Asian Games in Busan, South Korea, said he was fit and would be available for the Games.

The recently-concluded back-breaking trip to Europe was perhaps the longest which started with four-Test series in Spain from June 14 and culminated with Trophy’s final on Sept 8.

The team stayed and trained in Manchester for almost three weeks after the July 25 to Aug 4 Commonwealth Games on team officials’ proposal.