ISLAMABAD, Aug 2: Pakistan hockey coach Asif Bajwa on Tuesday made it clear that expecting a high percentage of conversion from penalty corner set-pieces in the absence of Sohail Abbas would be unfair at this point of time.

The national team is to compete in two tournaments in Hamburg and Amsterdam this month and Asif told Dawn that they were working on several short corner variations but pointed out that hoping for the kind of Sohail magic would be asking too much from the boys at this stage.

“Sohail was a big star no doubt but we have to get used to life without him and we are making all efforts by trying out the players we have.”

The Pakistan squad, currently in training in Islamabad is to leave for Hamburg on Aug 9 to feature in four-nation tournament that also involves Germany, Holland and Australia.

“In the camp we are making Muhammad Imran, Ghazanfar Ali, Ehsanullah and Imran Warsi take short corners and I am confident that by the time the Champions Trophy comes up we will have a much clearer picture.”

The Champions Trophy is in December, an elite competition that Pakistan last won in 1994 at Lahore. “We will definitely be working to get that title back and the players have all the potential to do well.”

Asif said that in the camp, he was also focussing on “organised attacks” because in recent years launching combined attacks was seen to be a weak link in the side.

After the tournament in Hamburg, Pakistan will head to Amsterdam to contest an eight-nation event where Germany, Holland, Australia, India, Korea, Spain and Argentina will be the participating teams.

“Both the tournaments will be tough but these provide us a good platform to try out all of our strategies ahead of the Champions Trophy and the World Cup next year.”

For the Hamburg and Amsterdam tournaments, Pakistan have named a 19-member squad which will be led by Muhammad Saqlain.