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“We are not in a position to win the gold medal at the Commonwealth Games since the competition is tough. However, we'll try our best to deliver in the forthcoming Asian Games [to be held in China in November],” the Dutch coach said while talking to reporters here at the National Hockey Stadium where the 16-member Pakistan team was finalised on Tuesday after the last session of the training camp ended.
“We are to face Scotland in the first match in which we will try to take a fine start by earning a good win against them,” Michel said.
“With Australia, world's number one team, along with hosts India and Malaysia also in our pool, makes it a tough contest,” Michel, who joined the Pakistan team some four months ago after Pakistan finished hit the rock bottom in the last World Cup in New Delhi earlier this year, stated.
The coach asserted the plan was to improve Pakistan's world ranking.
“Pakistan do not deserve that poor 12th spot [they achieved in the last World Cup] as they should be among the best outfits of the world.
“Our entire planning is also focused on improving Pakistan's world ranking,” he added.
Currently, the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF), the game's governing body in the country, desperately wants its team to secure victory in a big tournament, like the Delhi Commonwealth Games, to erase the bad memories of the World Cup and to end the long 16-year period during which the Greenshirts did not record a win in a major international event.
Pakistan clinched the World Cup and the Champions Trophy way back in 1994 while their last triumph in Olympics was at the 1984 Los Angeles Games.
The upcoming Commonwealth Games is the lone event for the current hierarchy of the PHF before the national team leave for the Asian Games, PHF's main target set some two years ago.
Meanwhile, the coach said the team underwent important training in Abbottabad and Holland, adding the boys were in good physical condition.
He suggested that Pakistan should play more and more international tournaments, which he regarded was the best way to make rapid improvement at the global level.
