Pakistan coach confident of victory

Published July 9, 2002

LAHORE, July 8: Pakistan could win the Commonwealth Games hockey contest, the national coach, Tahir Zaman, said Monday.

The team plays four-match Test series against Spain from July 13 to 20 before participating in the Games from July 25 to Aug 4 in Manchester.

The team will stay in England and proceed to Germany to play Champions Trophy from Aug 31 to Sept 7.

The coach said the squad was fully prepared and physically fit for the challenge and added centre-forward Kamran Ashraf had recovered from the back problem.

He considered Canada and England the two strong sides of the pool as Canada had held Pakistan 4-4 at the Olympic qualifying round in Japan.

The 18-member squad and the officials reassemble here on July 11 to depart for Spain the next day.