Pakistan off to Spain in search of Olympic hockey berth
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| Pakistan |
February 23, 2004 
Hindustan Times, India
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Pakistan off to Spain in search of Olympic hockey berth
Pakistan field hockey captain Mohammed Nadeem is confident his side can book their place at this summer's Athens Olympics with victory in next week's qualifying tournament in Madrid.
Pakistan, three-time Olympic gold medallists and four-time world champions, have slumped desperately over the past three years and have failed to win a major title anywhere.
They finished their worst ever fourth in the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, South Korea and also failed to win the Asia Cup last year.
But Nadeem believes Pakistan's runners-up finish in the prestigious Sultan Azlan Shah tournament in Malaysia last month bodes well for the March 2-13 Olympic qualifiying campaign.
"We are well prepared and with our runners-up finish at the Azlan Shah hockey event last month I feel we are on track for winning the Olympic qualifying event," Nadeem said as Pakistan left here Monday.
"Whatever has happened is behind us and with a new coach we have shown signs of improvement and will do our best to regain our Olympic title," said Nadeem, an inspirational forward.
The top six teams at Madrid will earn a berth for the Olympics in August.
The 12th team at the Olympics will either be the seventh qualifier, or Greece who have appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to get an Olympic berth as hosts.
Five teams have already qualified for the Athens Olympics on account of winning the continental championships with South Korea as Asian champions, Australia as Oceania champions, Argentina (Americas), Germany (Europe) and Egypt (Africa).
Pakistan is pitted alongside arch-rival India, Malaysia, New Zealand, Belgium and Canada while reigning Olympic champions the Netherlands, Great Britain, Spain, Japan, South Africa and Poland are in the other group.
Former captain Mohammad Sarwar, recalled in the squad, and Adnan Maqsood would travel to Spain later in couple of days due to visa problems.
Pakistan team: Muhammad Nadeem (captain), Ahmed Alam, Salman Akbar, Ali Raza, Sohail Abbas, Zeeshan Ashraf, Ghazanfar Ali, Muhammad Saqlain, Dilawar Husain, Wasim Ahmed, Adnan Maqsood, Rehan Butt, Mudassar Ali Khan, Kashif Jawwad, Shabbir Husain, Shakil Abbasi, Muhammad Sarwar, Salim Khalid.
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